I have to tell you about my new favorite salad, and I’m sorry it’s taken me so long.  I know it’s getting too hot to turn the oven up to 400 degrees, and if that’s the case where you are, at least promise me you’ll bookmark this and come back to it this fall.  We (or at least I) love this so much that I think I’ve made it at least 6 times in the past two months (including twice the first week I tasted it), and I’m not usually someone to get hooked on one dish and make it over and over again.  

It’s the perfect one dish meal.  It all comes together in about a half hour – there’s just enough time to get everything else together while the cauliflower roasts.  It’s pretty balanced, with plenty of protein from the beans and cheese, so it sticks with you.  But at the same time it’s pretty healthy and tastes very fresh from the lemon juice.  And if cauliflower and fennel are in season (I know, we’re probably getting late for that, but just bookmark it, ok?), then it’s really pretty cheap, too.  So see, what are you waiting for?

My inspiration here was this recipe from The Kitchn, which was in turn inspired by a recipe from Bon Appétit.  I wasn’t sold on raw cauliflower though, so I took essentially the same ingredients but roasted the caulfilower.  I’ve also switched out the cheese for whatever I have on hand, including feta, blue cheese, goat cheese, or parmesan.  It’s all delicious. I’ve also eaten it warm (when it’s fresh, the roasted cauliflower warms up the other ingredients just enough), room temperature, and cold. I usually like it best at whatever temperature it’s at when I’m eating it.

Oh and one last thing – even if you think you don’t like cauliflower, you’ve got to try it roasted.  It’s a totally different thing – it becomes sweet and caramelized and a tad crunchy – delicious!

Cauliflower, Fennel, and White Bean Salad

adapted from The Kitchn

1 large head cauliflower
smoked paprika, optional
3 cloves garlic
1 bulb fennel (plus, optionally, some of the leaves)
1 can white beans
1/2 cup crumbly cheese, such as feta, blue, goat, or even shaved parmesan
1 lemon
a few tablespoons fresh chopped herbs, such as parsley, chives, or thyme
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (the good stuff if you’ve got it) + more (not the good stuff) for the cauliflower
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper
arugula or other greens for serving, optional

Preheat oven to 425 F. Chop florets of cauliflower into pretty small, bite-size pieces (it’ll cook faster the smaller the pieces). Spread on a sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and, if desired, smoked paprika. Roast at 425 F, giving it a good stir every ten minute or so. When it’s starting to get soft, add 3 cloves of garlic, minced. (If you add the garlic at the beginning, it gets too browned.)

You want the cauliflower to get nice and browned around the edges, which will take about half an hour if it’s in pretty small pieces. That leaves you plenty of time to get the rest of the ingredients ready, make the dressing, and have a glass of wine.

Cut the fennel bulb into very thin slices. I use a mandoline for this and set it to 1/8″ or 1/16″ slices, but if you don’t have one you can use a sharp knife. Place fennel in a large bowl. I usually snip some of the fennel fronds in there, too. Rinse the white beans and add them to the fennel. Crumble the cheese over the beans. Zest the lemon into the bowl, too. Add the chopped herbs, and toss all this gently together.

Prepare the dressing: whisk together 1/3 c olive oil, the juice from the lemon, the red wine vinegar, and the mustard. (The mustard will allow the oil and vinegar/juice to emulsify.) Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Once the cauliflower is roasted and browned, add it to the bowl with the fennel and beans, pour the dressing over, and toss everything together gently. Serve alone, or on a bed of greens.

I had a little time Easter afternoon for baking, and I had rhubarb on my mind.  After discussing some ideas with members of the choir over breakfast between church services in the morning, I decided to try to make rhubarb squares.  The plan was for a shortbread crust with a rhubarb curd on top instead of the usual lemon.

As a first try, I thought these turned out really well.  I browned the butter, which made the shortbread crust extra-delicious, and they had a nice rhubarb flavor and were the right amount of sweet and tart.  Since I keep some on hand, I used vanilla sugar in both the shortbread and the curd, and the slight hint of vanilla goes really well with rhubarb.  However, there are a few things I’ll change for next time time: I think I’ll use more rhubarb and also cook it down a little longer to concentrate the flavor a bit more.  I’m hoping this might make them a little pinker as well — I ended up adding a few drops of red food coloring, and they still weren’t as pink as I wanted them to be.

All that said, these are delicious, and I’d definitely recommend trying them.  I’m sure I’ll be trying to refine them, too, so I’ll update the recipe here as I do so.

And I hope your Easter was as lovely as ours! I’ll leave you with a spring photo, and the recipe.

Rhubarb Squares

For the crust:
2 sticks salted butter (or use unsalted and add a healthy pinch of salt)
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar (vanilla sugar is nice)

For the curd:
3/4 lb. rhubarb, cut into 1 inch pieces
3/4 cup sugar (or vanilla sugar), divided
1 T flour
1/2 t baking powder
zest of one lemon
3 T lemon juice (from one lemon)
4 eggs

1/4 cup powdered sugar for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a 13″ x 9″ glass pan, melt and brown the butter in the oven. (Browning the butter is optional, but it really adds a lot of flavor.) Stir together flour and sugar for the crust. When the butter is browned, stir in dry ingredients. Press into the bottom of the pan. Bake 15 minutes. (Crust will not be done.)

Meanwhile, place the rhubarb in a small saucepan with 1/4 c of the sugar and 1 T water. Bring to a simmer, and cook until the rhubarb has completely fallen apart. Stir in lemon zest and juice. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs until light. Stir together the dry ingredients for the curd (remaining 1/2 cup sugar, flour, and baking powder). Whisk ingredients in with the eggs.

If rhubarb is still hot, add it to the egg mixture very gradually (a few spoonfuls at a time) to temper the eggs and keep them from curdling. Once it’s about halfway mixed in, you can add the rest of it at once. (If rhubarb was already cool, you can also add it all at once.) Optionally, blend the curd with a immersion blender so it will be very smooth. (You can also press it through a strainer, or just skip this step if you don’t care about the texture too much.)

Once the crust is done with its initial bake, spread the crust with the rhubarb curd mixture. Bake for another 30 minutes, until set and just beginning to brown on the edges.

If desired, sift powdered sugar over the bars while they’re still warm. (I really don’t think they need the sugar in terms of flavor, but it makes them look prettier.) Cut into squares and serve.

Like the Artichoke Spinach Lasagne, this recipe comes from Jessica’s friend Carrie. I’ve tried several recipes for fish tacos in the past (this one we’ve posted before is also pretty good), but I think these are my favorites. Though it has a lot of components to assemble, the actual cooking time is pretty quick. We’ve adapted them a bit from Carrie’s original recipe, and they allow a lot of room for modification.

And a tip for using the extra chipotles in adobo you’ll have leftover: chop some and combine with drained greek yogurt, garlic, and salt for a fiery but delicious dip for multi-grain chips. (This one comes from my friend Oliver, and I’ll try to share a more formal “recipe” at some point.)

Carrie Geddie’s Fish Tacos
Carrie says, “Everything tastes better after the flavors have had a chance to meld, so plan on leftovers.”

Honey-Lime Slaw
1/3 c fresh lime juice
2 T honey
1 T vegetable oil
1 t ground cumin
2 c three-color coleslaw blend
1/4 c cilantro

Chipotle Mayo
1/2 c mayonnaise or sour cream
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1 T adobo sauce from chipotle peppers
1/4 t salt

Fish
4 tilapia filets (or other white fish such as mahi, grouper, etc. Carrie also says that frozen breaded tilapia works well)

about 8 small corn of flour tortillas
mango, cut into chunks (optional)

For Honey Lime Slaw: whisk together lime juice, honey, vegetable oil, and ground cumin in a small bowl. Pour over coleslaw and cilantro. Mix thoroughly.  Do this first and allow to sit in the refrigerator for a bit for all the flavors to meld.

For the Chipotle Mayo: Place all mayonnaise ingredients together in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until smooth. Cover, and refrigerate until needed.

For the fish: if using fresh tilapia, sprinkle with cumin, a small amount of cayenne pepper, and salt. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook the fish about 3-4 minutes per side, until it flakes easily with a fork. Remove from the pan and flake it into bite-sized pieces. (If using other kinds of fish, cook according to your preferences, or the package instructions if using frozen fish.)

Assembly: Heat the tortillas, one or two per taco in a skillet until warm. Add some fish, slaw, chipotle mayo, and mango, if using, to each taco. Carrie suggests serving with Spanish rice and beans, though you can see we went the lazy, unhealthy route and just served it with tortilla chips!