First ya gotta cut up the cauliflower into popcorn-sized pieces. Then you melt a BOATLOAD of butter and mix it with a buncha flour until it’s kinda drippy but ya know not toooo drippy? Then mix that cauliflower all up in the drippy stuff, then take it out and put the cauliflower in a pan, and then stick it in the 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Don’t just sit around, you’ll get bored. Time to make the caramel!
Mix up a cup of sugar, a stick of butter, a half a cup of heavy cream and a big old pinch o’salt. Warm it a little in a pan and mix it until it’s melty and delicious. Then the “popcorn” should be ready!
Drizzle the caramel on top of the popcorn, and then you need to wait just a little for everything to cool down or you’ll burn your mouth up and then NOTHING WILL BE TASTY.
Eh up. Nice to see some new faces, though I don’t know how you all got into my kitchen. Anyway, you’re here now so I guess you’ll be wanting dinner. Give me a few minutes, I weren’t expecting company.
My name? Well, my friends call me Pat, and I guess it’s been just me and my Bill long enough that you may as well. We don’t get much company out on the farm these days - Betty next door has her kids up every other week, but, well, mr fancy pants has a whole life in London now so I’m lucky if I get three days at Christmas.
I’m making cauliflower cheese by the way- I hope you’re not on one of these new fangled diets what don’t let you have milk - it never did us any harm growing up. Gives you strong bones and curly hair, my mam always said. And this is the good stuff too - came out the cows this morning, no messing around with that pasteurisation stuff. I get why they need to do it, but it just doesn’t taste the same.
Cauliflower came out of the vegetable patch last week as well. I don’t want to brag, but my cauliflowers got second prize in the village fair last year. Everyone said I was a shoe-in for the gold, but, well, Betty’s been seeing rather a lot of John on the judging panel since his wife left him, so you know how these things go. I think you can taste the moral victory, though.
Right, so, you want the recipe? There’s not much to it- just give the cauliflower a quick boil, then whisk up some flour and butter - just eyeball it - and add the milk (slowly, mind), till it thickens, grate a whole block of cheddar into it, mix it up and put it in the top of the Aga for 10 mins. Even Betty couldn’t mess it up. Then we’ll just have it with a couple of slices of the ham from Sunday dinner, and a cup of tea. Do you take sugar?
Wow, a lot of great dishes to taste @Meowkins. I hope you’re hungry. Some bold choices too. Will @Smacky’s decision to not use the theme ingredient come back to haunt her? (It might) Did @brute do enough to get through to the next round with his cheesy comfort food?
Join us after these messages from our sponsors to see what our remaining chefs cook abs find out.
There is as much cauliflower in Smackys dish as Vermouth in a Churchill martini. As we all learned young, “it’s the thought that counts” and there were clearly a lot of thoughts!
Ok, so 7/10 contestants have submitted their dishes for the Cauliflower Challenge!
Calling @Gdogg@diapasoun@LadyDuck
No rush, but it’d be good to move to judging in the next day or so.
Also, I see some of you are using made up names and characters…great…that won’t make it harder at all. Hopefully not as hard as keeping track of who is a fake imaginary cat. For simplicity, I’m going to keep using forum names - but don’t let that stop you using your fake chef identities.
Hi! I’m new to cooking. I was a humble duck, eating snails and seeds from picnickers until I stole lunch out of their basket one day. Now I’m determined to eat everything!
Cauliflower are good for finding snails under. They are also an excellent source of green caterpillars, very nutritious and protein rich.
Use a food processor to finely chop cauliflower, onion, garlic, carrot. I find knives hard to handle with my wings and webbed feet.
Heat your wok, and add some sunflower oil.
Saute the vegetables in the pan, stirring regularly.
Wash the caterpillars thoroughly while the veg cook. Toss them in for a light browning before adding the soy sauce and honey. Serve with a side of steamed Bok Choy and rice, garnish with a few sprigs of coriander.
You can leave the caterpillars out if you aren’t a duck.
Well, while we wait, I’ll go ahead and start making the rounds.
Cauliflower and booze? Novel idea!
Cauliflower as fragility? Hmmm, loving the reinterpretation, but is essence of cauliflower the brief? Might be a stretch. We’ll have to wait til the tasting.
Ah, it seems we have two creamed cauli contenders. Eager to see those two duke it out.
I love well prepared veal! But will it overpower the cauli’s more subtle flavor? Ditto to vanellope’s liberal use of…sugar.
Galliver and Duck are following in the steps of brute and beep, but opting for less processing… they’ll really have to nail it, no mistakes!
Well, this seems to be more of a creative writing contest than a cooking contest. I am ill-prepared as I used up my best bu!!Sh1t at my work.
Impressive work by the chefs so far - but I find the recipes sorely lacking in Mayo and BACON!!
So - it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere. Which means it is salad season. This is easy to toss together and modify for your own tastes and preferences. Also - it is puppy dog friendly if you omit the onion.
INGREDIENTS
0 .75 lbs Broccoli florets cut into small bite sized pieces
0 .75 lbs cauliflower florets cut into small bite sized pieces
1/4 cup Red onion (optional - leave out for dog-friendly dish)
1/4 cup Craisins (if you substitute raisins, don’t let the dog have any, raisins / grapes are not good for our canine family)
3 tbsp red wine vinegar (or white vinegar, or cider vinegar, etc. - you get the idea)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp Sugar (optional)
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup crumbled bacon (or more because BACON)
1/2 cup shredded medium or sharp cheddar (Or your favorite cheese. Please, not pre-shredded! use the real deal)
INSTRUCTIONS
Make the dressing: Combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, and sugar in a bowl and whisk until smooth.
In a large bowl, add the broccoli, cauliflower, onion, craisins and dressing and toss to coat.
Add the sunflower seeds and bacon and toss again gently to distribute.
Serve chilled.
Enjoy with your favorite summer beverage and peoples.
cauliflower out of the ground last week??? I’m sorry, where do you live:no_mouth:
(Seriously we enjoy the broc salad. )
