Creamy Cauliflower and Onion Gratin & Cumin-Roasted Cauliflower and Dates with Tahini and Pine Nuts by Alison Roman

I admit that cauliflower isn’t my favorite vegetable. It probably ranks #10 in my top ten. It has very little flavor and too much fiber for its own good. Cauliflower can only wow me if it’s been given a glow up by other definitive flavors. There are many ways to doctor up these bland little trees, and the two recipes mentioned here are perhaps the tastiest cauliflower recipes I’ve cooked to date. 

(Side note: I firmly believe cauliflower should not be “riced” — rice grains are rice. Don’t mess with a beautiful thing.)

The cauliflower gratin adds red pepper flakes and a whole lot of dairy to help spice things up. At first, I was intimidated by the way the cauliflower is cut — in half inch thick disks. The picture in the book shows a perfect spindly flower fitting into a 9inch cake pan, and I wondered if I could attempt the same thing. Turns out, it’s not that hard! You just need a long, sharp knife and steady hand. The cauliflower is layered with cheese and poured over with a mix of cream and melted butter. Once baked and bubbly, that’s really all there is to it. 

One miss for me is Alison‘s lack of salting directions. It’s not like her to skip telling you to add salt and pepper at pretty much every step in a recipe. Here, she didn’t add salt to the layers of cauliflower, (just to the cream and cheese) and I felt the dish was overall under salted. So feel free to add a small sprinkling of salt over each layer of cauliflower. 

I skipped the breadcrumbs in this go around, but would recommend adding them for textural contrast and added saltiness. Also, my cream mixture never solidified in any real way. I’m not sure if I didn’t keep in the oven for long enough, or if the cream should truly stay in liquid form, but beware if you plan to bake and then transport this dish to a Friendsgiving — cream WILL spill out the sides if you’re not careful. 

Above all, the cumin-roasted cauliflower recipe truly wins the contest (yep, it’s a contest now). I made it as our vegetable side dish for Thanksgiving, and much to my surprise, Jordan said it was his favorite part of the entire meal. We had Alison’s stuffing, a turkey, two kinds of potatoes, and still, he liked the cauliflower the most. Believe me when I say, that’s a powerful statement coming from him. 

What made the cumin roasted cauliflower so great was the variety of flavors and textures used. Cauliflower gets broken down into tiny florets and roasted with cumin seeds until crispy and charred in some places. Part way through, dates are added to the roasting sheet, bringing a sweetness that nicely contrasts with the acid from the white wine vinegar and creaminess of the tahini. Cilantro makes this dish sing. I admit to skipping mint and pine nuts due to cost, but in no way did I feel like this dish lacked anything. Mint and pine nuts would have only elevated it further. 

178 and 179 recipes cooked, 46 to go.

Little Gems and Cabbage with Pickled Turnips and Lemony-Tahini Dressing by Alison Roman

What takes a salad from good to excellent? I have the same theory about excellent salads as I do about excellent granola: it’s all about an X-factor. An unexpected element that stops you mid-chew to say, “oo what’s that?” 

This salad has two X-factors: 

1. Pickled Turnips. I admit to making pickled turnips for this salad, twice. The first time was in June. I thought I’d make this salad *at some point* this summer. And every time I thought about making it, I only had half of the veggies needed to complete the recipe on hand. By the time August rolled around, it was time to pack up our apartment to move to Chicago. When I cleaned out the fridge and unearthed my oft forgotten turnips, I realized I’d need to try this one again. (Note to self: don’t buy/prep ingredients for something if you don’t have a date on the calendar to make it.)

   The first time I pickled turnips, I made two mistakes. I pickled three of them, AND I chose to quarter them before pickling. That’s frankly too many turnips in too bulky of shapes. Last week, I bought only one medium-sized turnip and thinly sliced it before pickling. Why not slice it into its final form before pickling to make things easier? 

   Pickled turnips are kinda funky, and I don’t want them on everything I eat. But I do love their earthy, vinegary, pop of unexpected flavor in a salad like this. 

2. Lemony-Tahini Dressing. There’s nothing very new or extraordinarily innovative about this dressing; it’s just reliably good. Lemon juice, salt, tahini, olive oil, garlic and water. Tangy, nutty, and smooth. Everything you need to unify a verifiable mini garden of vegetables (little gems/romaine, cabbage, cucumbers, scallions, parsley, preserved lemon, and turnips).

My in-laws were over for dinner that night, and they finished off the entire plate of salad. I got as many compliments on it as I did Alison’s Low and Slow Rib Roast with Rosemary and Anchovy - which is saying something! 

Here marks another successful All-Out-Alison Meal: 

1. Little Gems and Cabbage with Pickled Turnips and Lemony Tahini Dressing

2. Leftover Thanksgiving mashed potatoes

3. Low and Slow Rib Roast with Rosemary and Anchovy 

4. Sheet Cake with Mascarpone and Coffee 

One of my favorite combinations to date. 

177 recipes cooked, 48 to go.

Sour Cherry and Sesame Galette by Alison Roman

I was legitimately nervous about making this galette, for the sole reason that the pictures of it in nothing fancy are gorgeous. The top crust looks so delicate and precise – there’s no way my galette could even closely resemble what Alison made.  

Well, guess what. About half-way through the baking process, I decided not to care! I let my tendency to compare and harshly judge my own work go by the wayside. I was at my in-laws home with a lovely afternoon breeze passing through the screen door. My brother- and sister-in-law were in town, and I love their company. To let my petty pie crust fears get in the way of a lovely afternoon would simply violate all logical cost-benefit analysis. And if you’re a Varberg, cost-benefit analysis reigns supreme. 

So I went to town on two pie crust rounds, utilizing King Arthur’s Gluten Free pie crust recipe. I’ve now made five of these crusts now, and the recipe continues to hold up well. While the dough chilled, I focused on pitting 2.5 lbs of cherries. That’s a LOT of cherries! It was a divine moment when I discovered that Michelle owned a cherry pitter… I didn’t even know that existed! Instead of halving each cherry and digging the pit out with my thumb, I just punctured each cherry with the pitter, which spit out the pit into a tiny bowl. But even with this modern contraption, the task took about 30 minutes to finish. I tossed the cherries with lime zest and sugar before setting them aside to roll out the dough. 

Rolling pie dough takes patience and a willingness to stick it back in the fridge at a moment's notice. As soon as the dough starts to feel slightly too warm, it really needs to get cold again before trying to coax it along. I’m learning that pies are not something I can count on being finished in a certain window of time. They take the time they take, and so many external conditions affect that. 

Once the first disk was ready, I spread a third-cup of tahini paste over the dough, leaving a sizeable border along the edges. The cherries followed suit. I cut out holes in the other dough as instructed, though I confess that I didn’t plan the spacing out very well. To be honest, I was quite distracted by the fantastic conversation I was having with Heidi, my new sis. She’s delightful. Even more delightful than pie. I placed the holey dough on top and folded the edges. The final touches include an egg wash for browning, sugar, and sesame seeds. The galette spends about a half hour at a higher temp, and 20 minutes at a lower temp. By the end, the crust should be a light golden brown. 

I love cherries, so I enjoyed this one. The combination with tahini works, but it wasn’t my favorite. I wish everything was a little sweeter; the sourness of the cherries and saltiness of the sesame paste dominated the flavor. Even though some of the crust broke on top, I’m still proud of how this turned out. I’m growing, friends. And that feels really good. 

121 recipes cooked, 104 to go.

Blistered Green Beans with Creamy Tahini and Fresh Hot Sauce by Alison Roman

Green beans are notorious (in my mind at least) for being exceptionally boring vegetables. Like asparagus, they’re easy to overcook. We’ve all eaten cafeteria green beans – limp, soggy strands of yellowish green mush, and we’ve all regretted those experiences entirely. While I hope to never allow my green beans to get to that level of devastation, I must confess that I’ve made some disappointments. 

Blistered green beans are anything but a disappointment. To blister green beans, toss them in a bit of vegetable oil with salt and pepper before sauteing them in a cast iron skillet over HIGH heat. It took only 7 minutes for my beans to show a light charring and turn a bright green color. By utilizing high heat for a short time, the beans retained their fresh, snap-like quality and firm structure, while still heating through completely. It was the easiest and most rewarding way of cooking green beans I’ve yet to encounter. Much like Alison’s Perfect Asparagus method, I will turn to the blistering method for green beans moving forward. 

Beyond the exceptional cooking method, there are several other elements in this dish that elevate the beans. The first involves toasted hazelnuts, which, by now, you know that I completely ignored. I could have used toasted pistachios but I had neither the time nor the interest. The fresh hot “sauce” comprises distilled vinegar, half a jalapeno, garlic, salt, and sugar. It’s best to combine these ingredients first so the jalapeno has some time to pickle in the vinegar. 

Finally, the creamy tahini, a mixture of labne (or yogurt), tahini, and lemon juice, provides an interesting foundation and kind of dipping sauce for the plate of blistered beans. The beans and hot sauce get tossed together before sitting in the tahini. 

Bright, fresh, tangy, slightly spicy, creamy, crunchy are some of the fun adjectives that describe this dish. Words that I never before would have associated with green beans. Life is full of pleasant surprises. 

94 recipes cooked, 131 to go.

Citrusy Cucumbers with Red Onion and Toasted Sesame by Alison Roman

The first time I ate this salad was actually at my dear pal Kailey’s apartment. In fact, Kailey is one of the reasons I began this project. Since moving to Minneapolis, we’ve become really close -- the ease of our friendship matching that of other decades-old friends of mine. Kailey is a talented cook and owns both of Alison’s cookbooks. When we started hanging out at her apartment, I would steal one to peruse while she made me dinner. Eventually she let me take Dining In home for a few weeks, and that’s what inspired me to ask for it for Christmas! The rest, as they say, is history… 

Jordan and I both really liked this salad, which in my opinion is a win, because he hasn’t loved too many of Alison’s salads thus far. This salad is supposed to serve 4, but we ate all of it for dinner. Except the red onion. There was too much red onion in my opinion… 

The salad is simple. Red onion soaked in ice water to remove its bite. Thinly sliced cucumbers marinated in lemon juice, zest, and sumac. A creamy tahini spread at the base of the bowl. Drizzled with olive oil and toasted sesame seeds. Perfect for pairing with lamb, falafel, steak, chicken, the list goes on. I made this with Melissa Clark’s jalapeno honey steak and jasmine rice. It’s subtlety will complement a variety of bold flavors. I’ll definitely make this again!

74 recipes cooked, 151 to go.