From the Mideast, to New Jersey, to Florida, and back to Annalena: spicy roasted yogurt crusted cauliflower

Well, ragazzi, Annalena wishes to wish you all a Happy Independence day.  She and the Guyman are celebrating 30 years together this weekend.  As the song goes  "What a long, strange trip it's been."  And it has been.  And it has been wonderful too.  Thinking about it over the week past has kept Annalena's mindstuff occupied.  That and Italian homework, and other things, so she has simply kept her store of recipes - and recipes she has - for a time like now.

We are working today, in high summer, with a vegetable that you think of as an autumnal or winter vegetable:  cauliflower.    And some of you may be wondering "where is Annalena getting cauliflower in July.  Isn't that a vegetable that grows in the cold weather."  Well, carini, yes it does, and it also grows in warm weather.  So does broccoli. And so do many other vegetables we do in fact associate with the cold weather.   What Annalena thinks happens, is that because in the winter months, these are the ONLY vegetables available and we make the association.  And since there are so many other veggies available in the summer, there will ALWAYS be time to get to these.

Well, Annalena wants to say:  by all means,  eat those other veggies, but try kale, cauliflower, broccoli,  cabbage, and those other "sturdy" friends of winter during the summer.  They have a completely different taste:  much more delicate and much more sweet.  You'll have an eye opener.

This recipe came to Annalena from her friend Ophir - also known as the Late Ophir - and his wife Vanessa.  Worry not, ragazzi, Ophir has not left us - not in the sense of leaving this earth (or perhaps it does, as Annalena will explain).  Ophir is never on time. EVER.  Even when you give him a time that is a half hour before everyone else, he is still an hour late.  ALWAYS.  Vanessa, have you broken him of this?  And in terms of leaving the earth, well, he and Vanessa left Brooklyn for Florida, so make of that what you will.

In any event, this recipe was posted on their website:  fitnessfixes.com, to which Annalena commends you.  As you all know, she does not post recipes she hasn't tried,  and she hasn't tried the other recipes there.  This one, however, is a winner.  It's unusual, it's tasty, it's vegetarian, so go to it.  Try it.     Annalena took the recipe and, as she does, modified it. She will explain how she did so.

Let her say up front though, that this is a VERY spicy recipe, which may not be to everyone's taste.  So if you are  born to be mild, cut back some of the spices.  Try it the first way, though.

And here we go.  Set your oven to 400 degrees, and then inspect  your cauliflower.  The original recipe calls for one head, but Annalena suggests you get two smaller ones, weighing a total of about a pound and a half to two pounds, total.  You  have to get a weight, because cauliflower can be huge .  Annalena used the golden ones, but any variety of cauliflower will work.  Smaller ones are better, however, because even with the long bake time,  you will not completely cook the beasts.

You will need 1.5 cups of non fat plain yogurt.  Now, before you begin wondering "what do I do with the other half of a container of yogurt?"  read the container.  Yogurt comes in  6 ounce containers now, ragazzi.  Yes, like coffee, they have shrunk the containers.  Some are actually 5.3 ounces.  Annalena notices these things. So, in terms of this recipe, use two containers of non fat yogurt.  Dump them into a bowl and then grate the peel of a lemon into the yogurt, and add the juice from that lemon.  Now add two tablespoons of chili power, a tablespoon of ground cumin, a teaspoon of curry, two teaspoons of salt, and a teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper.  Keep in mind that chili powders, and curries, come in different degrees of heat.  If you are used to using them, you will know what you like.  (Annalena used a mild curry, and a stronger chili powder).  If you are REALLY squeamish about the spices, cut them back.  The yogurt is key here.   (and DON'T substitute soy yogurt, kids, please).  Mix this all up.  Taste it.   The original recipe called for a Tablespoon of garlic powder as well.   Annalena does not allow garlic powder in her house, and the recipe did not seem to suffer  for losing it.

Good, huh? Now you have a dip for when you have a party with your health nuts who want vegetables and nothing fattening.

Now, get those cauliflowers.  Even them off on the bottom, by cutting away leaves, and whatever unevenness you find on the stems.  You want them to stand up on their own, after you spread about a tablespoon of vegetable oil on some kind of baking sheet, or pie pans or something.

Wash your  hands, and get busy.  Put the veggies on the sheet, and then slop the yogurt mixture all over them.  It won't drip that bad, and be generous.   You may have a little left, but use as much of it as you can.

Get it in the oven.  The smells that come out will be marvelous, and interesting.  Annalena could have sworn she was baking pizza for the first fifteen minutes, or cooking sausage, and then she got the aroma of enchiladas.  And then, the smell of the yogurt caramelizing came out (yes, caramelizing, ragazzi.  Remember:  any time  you see something brown, be it a vegetable, meat, etc, what is happening is sugar is becoming caramel.  This is called - seriously - the Browning reaction Annalena does not make this stuff up.  If you want to sound really fancy, you can call it the Maillard reaction as well  Louis -Camille Maillard discovered it.  And isn't that a great name. Someone name your son Louis - Camille).

At thirty minutes, stick a knife into the center of your veggies to see if they are tender enough for you.  If so, stop things.  If not, cook them for ten minutes further.  Don't go beyond this.

Let the things cool, and then slice them into wedges.  Chances are, the stems most close to the center, will not be soft enough to eat.  The "mouthfeel" of this dish, however, together with the spices, will give you more than enough to chew on (so to speak).

Annalena made these with stuffed eight ball squash.  She has posted recipes about stuffed veggies before, but if you want it, let her know, and it shall be done.

Next time around, ragazzi, we will either continue our spice run and look at a chicken recipe, or we will visit a case of "when worlds collide," as Annalena combines a photo posted by her friend Margery, with an old fashioned Roman (as compared to Italian ) recipe, for a soup called vignarola.

Ciao for now . xoxoxoxoxooxox