Once fun with Farro: cauliflower and Cara Cara Oranges, Parmesan and smoked trout

Once fun with Farro: cauliflower and Cara Cara Oranges, Parmesan and smoked trout

March 24, 2014 .By Adam Roberts | Comments

They say that you have I have to know the rules before you break the rules and I think that it is true so far as it is true art or writing or any other discipline of cooking. Before you take deconstructed spaghetti and meatballs with foam and fruit leather and the essence of dried beef, you should probably learn how to make the simple version. (More: the simple version is generally better.) Let's say you want to be creative, however, and want to flex your artistic cooking muscles. So my advice is to master the art of white foods; the types of foods you can dress but you want once you have the idea base down. For me, food white canvas used to be pasta. but lately, on a whim of health summer-is-coming from California, I've been playing around with farro.

Farro is quite easy to cook. Just follow the instructions on the package, but, essentially, you're boiling water, season with salt, place in the farro and depending on what type you buy (that of Trader Joe cooks quickly, that of Whole Foods does not) you will have cooked farro in 20 to 30 minutes. Drain the water and let the games begin.

My first tip is to hit this warm farro, just boiled with fat and acid materials immediately. In the case of my cauliflower and Cara Cara orange farro (which I did after a trip to the farmer's market), I drizzled with olive oil and then pressed the cara cara orange juice in and waving all around (Orange navel works well also). As for cauliflower, I've "marinated" in putting the florets of cauliflower believed in a dish with olive oil, more orange juice and crushed coriander seeds. Then I threw with Cara Cara oranges with segmented spelt and lots of chopped herbs (parsley and dill, I think) and some chopped onion marinated:

It was a spring-time bright, festive and healthy dish.

But my greatest work came a week later, when I spotted trout smoked at Trader Joe and I had picked up asparagus to the farmer's market. Firstly, I grilled the asparagus with the 425 oven by putting it on a plate baking with olive oil, salt and pepper and cook until the asparagus had little color (about 10 minutes):

With regard to the farro, I decided that I was going to do some sort of smoked trout, Caesar salad (something that you can find in my cookbook), but in the form of farro. Listen to me. Here is what I had on my cutting board:

After cooking the spelt, I treated with olive oil and lemon juice and a tablespoon of mustard soup, salt and pepper:

Then, I crumbled in smoked trout:

Add the asparagus, cut into pieces and lots of Parmesan cheese:

Hey, it may seem strange to you, but it was quite successful, rough-hewn dinner (this crowd me and Craig):

Who knew farro was so versatile, such a prompt for the creative Cook? I did and now do you it too. What will you come up with? The sky is the limit.

Tags: asparagus, Cara Cara oranges, cauliflower, farro, healthy, salad, smoked trout

Categories: recipes, salads

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Fun Times with Farro: Cauliflower and Cara Cara Oranges, Smoked Trout and Parmesan

Fun Times with Farro: Cauliflower and Cara Cara Oranges, Smoked Trout and Parmesan

March 24, 2014 |By Adam Roberts | COMMENTS

They say you’ve gotta know the rules before you break the rules and I think that’s true of cooking as much as it’s true of art or writing or any other discipline. Before you make deconstructed spaghetti and meatballs with foam and fruit leather and dehydrated beef essence, you should probably learn how to make the straightforward version. (Plus: the straightforward version is usually better.) Let’s say you’re hankering to be creative, though, and you want to flex your artistic cooking muscles. Then my advice is to master the art of blank canvas foods; the kinds of foods you can dress up however you want once you get the basic idea down. For me, that blank canvas food used to be pasta; but lately, on a California summer-is-coming health kick, I’ve been toying around with farro.

Farro is pretty easy to cook. Just follow the package directions but, essentially, you boil water, season it with salt, drop in the farro and depending on what kind you buy (the one from Trader Joe’s cooks quickly, the one from Whole Foods doesn’t) you’ll have cooked farro in 20 to 30 minutes. Drain out the water and let the games begin.

My first bit of advice is to hit that hot, just-boiled farro with some fat and acid right away. In the case of my cauliflower and Cara Cara orange farro (which I made after a trip to the farmer’s market), I drizzled in olive oil and then squeezed the juice from cara cara oranges in and stirred everything around (navel oranges will work well too). As for the cauliflower, I “marinated” it by putting raw cauliflower florets in a dish with olive oil, more orange juice, and ground up coriander seeds. Then I tossed that with the farro along with segmented Cara Cara oranges and lots of chopped herbs (parsley and dill, I believe) and some chopped pickled onion:

It was a bright, festive, healthy spring-time dish.

But my greater work came a week later when I spotted smoked trout at Trader Joe’s and I’d picked up asparagus at the farmer’s market. First, I roasted the asparagus in a 425 oven by putting it on a cookie sheet with olive oil, salt and pepper and cooking just until the asparagus had some color (about 10 minutes):

As for the farro, I decided I was going to make a sort of smoked trout Caesar salad (something you can find in my cookbook) but in farro form. Hear me out. Here’s what I had on my cutting board:

After cooking the farro, I treated it with olive oil and lemon juice and a spoonful of mustard, salt and pepper:

Then I flaked in the smoked trout:

Added the asparagus, cut into pieces, and lots of Parmesan:

Hey, it may sound strange to you, but this was a totally successful, crowd-pleasing dinner (that crowd being me and Craig):

Who knew farro was so versatile, such a prompt for creative cooking? I did and now you do too. What will you come up with? The sky’s the limit.

Tags: asparagus, Cara Cara oranges, cauliflower, farro, healthy, Salads, smoked trout

Categories: Recipes, Salads

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Caramelized Cauliflower Frittata

Caramelized Cauliflower Frittata

March 21, 2014 |By Adam Roberts | COMMENTS

Adam in the Bible was good at naming things, Adam the food blogger, not so much. I first called this “Caramelized Cauliflower Frittata with Onions, Cheddar and Nutmeg” then thought it was weird to emphasize the nutmeg, even though that gives you a clue as to the flavor profile. Next title was “Caramelized Cauliflower Frittata with Onions” which makes it sound very oniony though, actually, it is quite oniony: golden brown onions in with the eggs, pickled onions sprinkled on at the end. Finally I settled on “Caramelized Cauliflower Frittata” because that’s really what this is, a chance to use up leftover cauliflower on a weekend morning. And you know what? It’s one of the best breakfasts I’ve made in a long time.

I know you all get mad when I do a recipe in paragraph form with pictures rather than condense it all at the end, but my recipes are loosey-goosey: they’re meant to be toyed with. I just want you to get the gist so you can make it your own way with whatever you have. For example, this technique would work equally well with broccoli.

Step one: Preheat your oven to 450 and heat olive oil–1/4 cup–in a cast iron skillet. Add cauliflower florets, sprinkle with salt, and cook on very high heat, tossing occasionally, until brown all over.

Taste the cauliflower here: it should be just cooked through and flavorful and highly enjoyable. Take it out of the skillet, put it on a plate, and add a whole sliced onion with a pat of butter and a big pinch of salt.

Turn down the heat. This moment with the onions gives you plenty of time to do everything else you need to do. In fact, I’m starting to appreciate onions as a great way to get started cooking without having everything else prepped. Since onions taste better when they cook for a long time on a low heat, you get to this stage, turn down the flame, and let them cook for as long as you can–45 minutes, if you can stand to wait–and use that time to prep your eggs. In this case, beat together 6 eggs with salt, pepper and some nutmeg (remember the nutmeg? Use the fresh stuff, just a little bit)–oh and I grated a big mound of sharp white cheddar (about 1 cup):

At this point, you can have a moment of respite: sit down, read the paper, sip some coffee. You want those onions beautiful and golden brown. When they’re there, add the cauliflower back to the skillet and turn up the heat:

Then pour in your eggs and stir in your cheese, saving some to sprinkle on top:

Cook on the stove top until the edges start to firm up and then place the whole skillet in the oven. It should take between 5 and 10 minutes for the frittata to cook; you’ll know it’s done when you press in the center with your finger and it’s firm and not at all wet. Here it is, hot out of the oven:

Looks good, right?

To gild the lily, I took some pickled red onions from my fridge–and I made these from a recipe on Bon Appetit that’s so easy I can tell you here: slice an onion, shove it into a jar, mix together 2 cups of white wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons of sugar and a big pinch of salt and pour it over the onion; let it sit for an hour or longer and there you are–and chopped it along with some parsley to sprinkle over the top.

As you can see, I cut the frittata into wedges and lifted it out like you would a slice of pie.

And it was a hit! What a great way to use up leftover vegetables in your Frigidaire. So this weekend, don’t be shy: grab some cauliflower, grab some eggs, grab some nutmeg and get to work. And if you need a name for your concoction, don’t ask me. Let’s just agree to call it delicious.

Tags: cauliflower, eggs, frittata, leftovers, nutmeg, weekend breakfasts

Categories: Breakfast, Recipes

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