Oven Roasted Cauliflower

ingredients:

1 cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 or more tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
a generous pinch or three of salt
pepper


directions:

1. toss the cauliflower with the coconut oil, sea salt, and pepper
2. spread evenly on a (lined) baking sheet -- single layer is best
3. oven roast at 345 for at least an hour, or until turning brown and very nicely cooked

This is a tremendously tasty way to prepare cauliflower, and the texture and flavour are heavenly. We used a neon green cauliflower from the farmer's market, but apparently they all taste the same. Just fun to look at!

Autumn Soup

Tuesday morning November 2nd meant the final farmer's market at East York Civic Center until spring 2011 :(  

Bob Proracki from Round Plains Plantation (http://www.ontariosweetpotato.com) brought me 2 brand new sweet potato types that he grew for the first time this year. Unlike the bright orange, soft fleshed sweet potatoes most people are familiar with (Bob has those, too), these genres have a dry flesh. One is a bright purple fleshed  cutie called the Okinawa, and the other is white fleshed, equally cute, and is called the Mirosaki -- both named after places in Japan. I lived in Japan for a few years in the 90s, and fell in love with the dry fleshed sweet potatoes that the street vendors would roast up at street fairs ... My decade plus long search to find these same treats here brought me to Bob and his fabulous chemical free fare. Tuesday morning was also a fond farewell to our other East York farmer's market fave -- Hillsview Farms. We stocked up on some chemical free produce from them -- some of the best carrots I've ever tasted in my life, sweet broccoli, very nice squashes, bright happy tomatoes, and some adorable little mini cabbages.

In honour of our final farmer's market of the season, we made a lovely roasted vegetable soup when we got home. 

ingredients:

1/2  package dried lima beans, soaked overnight, and rinsed (made 14 cups of beans)

4 tomatoes

1 1/2 baby cabbages

1 carrots

1/2 small butternut squash

1 small onions

2 small (or 1 med/large) cloves of garlic

1 small or medium sweet potato (I just used the usual orange ones in this soup)

sea salt

pepper

coconut oil

marjoram

oregano

1 broccoli

directions:

1.  bring lima beans to a boil and then remove from heat and soak  for 2-3 hours or overnight

2.  rinse lima beans well, and put in a large stock pot with water just to cover

3.   add a few generous tablespoons of coconut oil

4.   add sea salt and black pepper

5.   chop tomatoes and add to pot

6.   dice carrot and add

7.  chop cabbage and add

8.  add salt, pepper, marjoram, and oregano

9.   cover the pot and bring it to a low boil or a heavy simmer. This will need to cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours

10.  dice the squash, and oven roast on a cookie sheet at 345 for 1/2 hour

11.  dice the sweet potatoes, and oven roast at 345 for 1/2 hour

12.  peel the garlic cloves, quarter the onions, and oven roast at 345 for 1/2 hour

13.  once the garlic and onions are cooked through, chop onions and add both to pot for simmering process

14.  once the lima beans are thoroughly cooked, add squash and sweet potatoes for a final 30 minutes of cooking. At this point, add in as much more water as you need to get the correct broth-to-solids ratio that will please your palate most. Adjust the seasoning, adding more salt and pepper or herbs if needed. 

15.  chop broccoli and add for last 10 minutes of cooking

You can serve this with bread or crackers for a simple meal, or as a starter, if you prefer.

This will make about 4 quarts of soup, so you'll need your big soup pot or dutch oven to make this. It will freeze well in glass jars. Or you can halve the recipe like any normal person would do. :)

It is savoury, delicious, and comforting on a chilly evening. Yum

Oven Roasted Cauliflower

This is a fun way to prepare cauliflower that my sister Deborah recommended to me. My husband says it still tastes like cauliflower and makes a bit of a face when he eats it. My 2 1/2 year old devours it with greed and gusto.




ingredients:


4 cups of cauliflower, dismembered into florets
1 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
a pinch or two sea salt




directions:


1. toss the cauliflower with the coconut oil and sea salt
2. place on a lined baking sheet or in a large glass baking pan
3. bake at 345 for about 30 or 45 minutes, or until it is done to your liking


You'll probably realize that coconut oil is a solid at room temperature, making it hard to toss vegetables with it. However, if you put the vegetables and the oil in the baking dish and then put them in the oven for 2 minutes, remove them from the oven, toss, and return them to the oven, you'll find it's no longer a solid. However,  if you prefer your oil a la olive, be my guest.

Oven Roasted Butternut Squash and Chickpea Stew

Inspired by Sara and her squash and chickpea stew ...


I had three adorable if generous 'bone' squashes from my favourite chemical free farmer at the East York Civic Center, and decided that today was the day to use one of them. Squashes to keep very well, so it could be weeks before the next squash post. We'll see.


I oven roasted the individual ingredients before combining them all in my red cast iron casserole (named Nemesis after a Red Dwarf star) and cooking them all together to let the flavours do a final meld.
The individual roasting section of the preparation doesn't really add much in terms of labour because honestly it's the cutting and dicing that feels the most labour intensive. However, it does add a little in terms of time. But also adds much in terms of flavour, integrity, and over all result. If you wish to skip the pre-roasting, I'd love to hear how it turns out for you. Yummy, I'm sure. I oven roasted some cauliflower and was originally going to add it, but then decided to just serve it as a side dish. With a loaf of freshly baked bread. :)


ingredients:


1 butternut squash, gutted and cubed
2 small onions, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
4 cups cauliflower florets and greens, chopped
4 cups cooked chickpeas
1 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce (see the pizza recipe post) (or you could chop some cherry tomatoes in half and throw those in instead -- yum)


1/2 tsp chili powder
black pepper
sea salt




directions:


1. toss butternut squash with coconut oil and a touch of salt and oven roast on a large baking sheet (line with silicone or parchment
2. toss onion and garlic with coconut oil and oven roast in a small oven proof baking dish
3. toss cauliflower with coconut oil and a touch of sea salt and oven roast in a rectangular glass pan
(you'll be able to fit the squash on your bottom rack, and the other two on your upper rack, and thereby do all at once)
4. oven roast everything at 345 until each one is individually done. I really hate under cooked garlic and onion, so I probably roast these much longer than some people would.  The cauliflower should be nicely brown in spots, and kind of translucent and soft. If you've never had cauliflower this way, try it and give thanks to my sister Debbie :) The squash is nice when it's a little brown in places.
5. you can reserve the cauliflower like I did to use as a side dish, or you can use it in your 'stew'.
6. In a large casserole (cast iron, stainless steel, ceramic, or glass), combine the oven roasted vegetables and the chickpeas. Pour the coconut milk over everything, and stir gently to combine.
7. pour on the tomato sauce. You don't want to use so much that the tomato dominates, but rather just enough that it pulls the flavours together nicely, and balances out the richness of the coconut milk. I found 1 1/2 cups did the trick for me.
8. I really like chili powder (not the same as chili pepper) and decided to add 1/2 tsp to this stew. I really like the way it works with the sweetness of the roasted vegetables and the brightness of the tomato. If chili powder is not your bag, maybe just sea salt and black pepper would work.
9. put the loaded casserole into the oven, and bake for 45-60 minutes to meld the flavours fully.
10. Serve with fresh bread, by itself, sided by cauliflower, wearing only a smile, topping quinoa, or consume standing over the stove directly from the casserole whilst wearing a guilty expression.

Oven roasted cauliflower and cauliflower greens that didn't make it into the stew

Squash stew, fresh bread, and Nemesis

Well, we've eaten this for the past three days or so, and I find it to be wake-up-in-the-night-and-raid-the-refrigerator delicious. Not that I do that ;) But I do look forward to a bowl of it for dinner. Extra Yum!


Let me know what you think :)

Sweeeeeeet Potato Frites

We're big fans of the man we call The Sweet Potato Man at East York Civic Center Farmer's Market. (http://ontariosweetpotato.com) His tasty goods are chemical free, as well. My son likes to sample their raw sweet potato 'fries', which you can buy by the bagful. I just by the sweet potatoes by the basket, whole.

We decided to cut 'em up and oven bake them for a frites-like result. Because of the high moisture content, they are not terribly crispy. They are, however, tasty, easy to eat with your fingers, and quite nutritious.

ingredients:

 4 medium sweet potatoes

2 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil

sea salt and pepper

directions:

1. cut the sweet potatoes into 'frites'

2. toss them in a bowl with the oil and seasonings (I bet a little chili powder would be nice ...)

3. bake them in a single layer on a lined baking sheet at 345 for 1 hour or until they achieve a texture that pleases you