Cream of cauliflower soup

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I was a really picky eater when I was a child. Texture for me was a big thing and if I found something to be with unpleasant texture, no matter how yummy the taste, I will refuse to eat it. And as with most kids, my mother and father were the victims of my strong food opinions. They went though stages of emotions while watching me eat (or pick) the laborious homemade meals they had prepared. Also, as most parents, they had a range of tactics for cooking for the family (including me) that were aimed to keep us all happy and well fed, but doing that in a sane matter was not always attainable. And as we all do, my parents learned as they went when my dad quickly discovered that if the kids don’t see the ingredients, they think they are not there. This is when he started cooking all the vegetables whole (so they are easy to find later), then pureeing them and returning them to back the meal so I would think “they are not there”. In fact, that approach was so successful that even when I was a grown up woman, I would still boil some vegetables (like carrots) whole, then puree them and return to the soup. Some here my wonder what happens with the clear-broth soups...well, that is another story which I will tell another time.

My dad’s clever approach started my life-long love of cream soups and for many years the only way I could eat boiled vegetables was when they are creamed. With age and experience I discovered many more vegetables (than potatoes and carrots) that made wonderful cream soups, which made me even more excited.

So, to no one’s surprise, today’s recipe is for a cozy cream of cauliflower soup. It was not until recently, when I discovered that cauliflower makes one of the most delicious and complex cream soups. And the reason is that cauliflower changes its taste as it cooks. The shorter it is cooked, the more cabbage-like will taste The longer it is cooked the nuttier and sweeter it becomes. And because its small very soluble fiber content, it makes for a wonderful silky-creamy soup without adding cream or milk.

To this recipe I have added a simple garnish of pan fried cauliflower flowerets that are lightly charred, with a hint of spice and a wonderful  fresh lemony taste. (Psst...they are so yummy, you might be tempted to make a whole head a cauliflower of them and eat them as a tasty bite while sipping a glass of lovely white wine).

This cozy winter soup is one of my favorite now and I hope you will like it too.

Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 1 head cauliflower (about 2 pounds)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 leek, white and light green part only, halved lengthwise, washed well of the sand and sliced thin
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• 1 medium potato, peeled and sliced in large cubes
• Salt and black pepper
• 4.5–5 cups of water
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1/2 lemon, grated skin and juiced
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp capers (optional), roughly chopped

Directions:

1. Cut the cauliflower in half and remove the core. Pull a heaping 1 cup of 1/2-inch florets and save for later for garnish. Pull or cut the remaining cauliflower in 3-inch pieces and set aside.

2. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a medium-sized pot. Add the leek and onion and sauté until soft but not brown. Add the garlic, stir and cook for about 30 seconds, making sure it doesn’t burn.

3. Increase the heat to high and add the water, potatoes and a tea spoon of salt. Bring to a simmer and reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes stirring from time to time.

4. Meanwhile, heat up a large empty heavy pan (cast iron preferably) over high heat and add the butter and the reserved cup of cauliflower florets. Lower to medium-high and brown the florets by stirring frequently, about 5-7 minutes. The flowerets are done when the edges are slightly charred. Turn off the heat and stir the red pepper flakes, lemon rind, juice and capers. Transfer to a small bowl and add salt to taste. Cover to keep warm.

5. Process the soup in a regular or immersion blender until smooth and creamy (hint: the higher the speed the smoother the soup will be). Add salt and pepper to taste and a tablespoon of butter, if desired.

6. Ladle the soup into individual bowls and garnish with a tablespoon of the spicy florets. Add grated Parmesan cheese for extra flavor, if desired.

Enjoy!

Gingerbread Cookies

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There in the forest lived a bear. He was a small but a very good bear whose name nobody knew so everyone called him Bear. He had a small, but a cozy house in the middle of the woods with a comfy fluffy bed, nice big table with many chairs and a big pantry room where he stocked all of his provisions for the winter. The Bear’s busiest seasons were summer and fall, though armed with two big baskets, he would walk around the forest and gather many yummy things such as berries, fruits and honey. Winter was his favorite season. Everything was white and the soft fluffy snow was everywhere, making the forest look like a dreamy, puffy cloud. The other reason why the Bear liked winter so much were his long walks in the woods where he would visit his friends – the Fox, the Squirrel, the Hedgehog and the Snail. 

The Fox’s house was on the other side of the forest from where the Bear lived and the Bear liked going to the Fox’s house at least two times a week, not because she was most hospitable of all of his friends, but because she was rarely at home. And the Bear liked guessing and eagerly waiting to find if the Fox was home or not. The Fox also was an avid discoverer, traveler and a gatherer of all interesting things and the Bear loved listening the Fox’s stories about unfamiliar places and going though, touching and smelling all the Fox’s treasures from her trips.

Another house that the Bear liked to visit was Mr. Squirrel’s house. Mr. Squirrel was a small creature with a big puffy tail and the energy of a hundred squirrels. He was always on the run, always carrying something and always in the state of panic that he didn’t fill his den with enough food for the winter. When, in fact, he had so much stored food that often it would take up his entire house, even his bed and then he had to stay with the Bear. The Bear actually loved when Mr. Squirrel stayed with him because it meant that there will be a food party with all of their friends in order to free up space in Mr. Squirrel’s house. 

So on the day when the Snail and the Hedgehog informed the Bear that they couldn’t come to the annual Christmas and New Year’s parties because they had lost most of their food in the fall’s flood, the Bear knew what to do. He convinced Mr. Squirrel, though it was not easy, to bring some of his food to the Bear’s house. Then, on Christmas Eve, The Bear, the Fox and Mr. Squirrel armed with a wagon cart and many blankets sneaked into the Snail’s and the Hedgehog’s houses while they were sleeping. Then, very gently – not to wake them up, placed the Snail and the Hedgehog into the cart and covered them with warm blankets. After that they carefully wheeled their sleeping friends to the Bear’s house and waited...

....When the Snail and the Hedgehog woke up on Christmas morning, they were puzzled and surprised. They had no idea what had happened and how they ended up in the Bear’s house. The Bear, on other hand, was so happy and was eagerly handing them two small cups of honey chamomile tea. Then the door opened and there arrived the Fox and Mr. Squirrel carrying many baskets of the Squirrel’s provisions. After that they all gathered and cooked a lovely breakfast, drank some tea and sat around the Bear’s table. They chatted laughed, as all good friends do, for many days and nights until the new year arrived.

The end.

This project was a collaboration between me and the lovely and very talented Lindsay Schwartz. It is very rare in life when we have the chance to meet an exceptional human being that would not only magnetize us with their genuineness, kindness and humanity but with whom we would also work so well. To me, Lindsay is one of these people. And for various reasons that I can’t find words to describe, she makes me peaceful, aware on myself and my surroundings and open to the creativity that lies deep in me.

Thank you, Miss Linz, for being who you are and I look forward to many more shared moments and projects together.

Video Art Direction and Hand Lettering by Lindsay Schwartz.

Gingerbread Cookies

This recipe was modified from this Bon Appétit Magazine recipe.

Ingredients:

Makes about 40 3-inch cookies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon*
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 8 tbsp (1 stick / 115 gr.) butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg 
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp fresh orange juice
• 1 tsp orange zest

Simple Frosting:
• 2 cups of confectioners sugar
• 3 tbsp water

* I used Vietnamese cinnamon for my cookies because of its complex flavor. Feel free to use any cinnamon you like/have.

Directions:

1. Mix the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, soda, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and the egg yolk. Then beat in the orange juice and orange peel (batter may look curdled). Blend in the flour-spice mixture and mix well with a spatula. Gather the dough together into a large ball.

3. Cut the dough ball in half and shape each half into a flat round disc. Take one of the discs and roll it out between 2 large sheets of parchment paper (this will prevent dough from sticking) to about 1/8-inch thickness. Carefully place the rolled dough with the parchment on a baking sheet. Chill in the refrigerator for about half an hour. Repeat with the other dough disk.

4. Preheat oven to 350 F.

5. Take one of the chilled and rolled out discs from the refrigerator and slide it from the baking sheet onto a table. Remove the top parchment paper and line the baking sheet with it. Working quickly, cut out cookies using cookie cutters. Using a spatula, transfer the cookies onto the lined baking sheet, spacing them 1 inch apart. Gather the dough scraps and re-roll to 1/8-inch thickness and cut out more cookies.

6. Bake the cookies until golden, for about 8 minutes. Let the cookies stand for 2 minutes. Transfer the cookies and the parchment paper to a cooling rack to cool completely.

7. Repeat with the remaining rolled and chilled dough.

8. Using a whisk, mix the icing ingredients in a medium mixing bowl until well blended. The mixture should be thick and not runny. Add more water or sugar in necessary. Place the mixture into a piping bag (or a ziplock bag) with a very small tip attached and decorate. Let the icing dry for at least 4 hours.

Store cookies in a plastic box lined with parchment paper.

Crostini with White Beans and Spinach

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Sometimes I find myself struggling with the easiest things that life throws at me. Due to lack of ideas, creativity or I don’t know what, I blank out and I find myself panicking, going in circles and ending in a state of despair, afraid that this time I got stuck really badly. Then, if I haven’t given up already, I search for wisdom outside of me, in beloved books, extraordinary people who I love and admire. One such person is Eric Ripert, a French-American chef and an extremely genuine person who I never met, but whose work and way of living I greatly admire. In one of his interviews he said that “Cooking is about memories, about something you have learned in the past and where, in the present, instinct kicks in allowing your experiences to build up and to get transformed into flavors and techniques that lead you to create something new.” So when one of my friends asked me to come up with a vegetarian crostini recipe, that can easily be made with ingredients that can be found in Bulgaria at this time of the year, and with the Christmas Lent in mind, I was completely blanking out and having a hard time coming up with any ideas. This is where Eric’s wisdom came as an anchor and a starting point, where rather than being original or creative, I thought of what I can use that reminds me of this time of the year in Bulgaria and what the dishes that I associate with Lent are. Beans were on top of my list, remembering how much I had eaten in the winter while I was a child. Then I thought of all the traditional bean dishes Bulgarians eat and how some of the most delicious ones are made leftover beans. From there on it was easy, as Eric says, memories and and built up experiences started trickling in.

I used white beans, red pepper, onion, garlic, rustic toasted bread and fresh mint, which is a Bulgarian staple in cooking beans. It is really easy to prepare and the spinach cooked in white wine plus the lemon makes it so fresh and light. I still remember how on Christmas Eve my family will cook so much beans that we will end up eating them for days after Christmas and the end of Lent. So here is a savory recipe for all the leftover beans, that will transform them into a yummy appetizer. 

White Beans and Spinach Crostini

Ingredients:
Makes about 18 crostini

• 1 can (15 oz. / 425 gr.) cannellini beans, washed and drained
• 1 roasted red pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 lemon, juiced and lemon rind finely grated
• 1 tsp white balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 package (5 oz. / 150 gr.) fresh spinach
• 2 tbsp white wine
• Handful of fresh mint, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 baguette

Directions:

1. Combine the first 5 ingredients into a medium mixing bowl, add 1 tbsp of olive oil, salt to taste and mix well. Let the mixture sit for at least 30 minutes, so the flavors can develop and enhance the beans (you can make the mixture up to a day ahead).

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange the baguette slices on two large rimmed baking sheets and bake until golden (15 to 20 minutes).

3. Meanwhile, heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil, half of the spinach, and 1 tbsp of wine. Toss quickly until the spinach is slightly wilted (about a minute). Add half of the mint and toss a few more times to incorporate. Place the mixture into a bowl add salt to taste and set aside. Repeat the process with the remaining olive oil, wine spinach and mint.

4. Take one of the peeled garlic cloves, cut the tip and rub one of the toasted baguette slices (2-3 strokes) with the garlic. Repeat with the remaining baguette slices.

5. Arrange the crostini by topping each one of them with 1/2 tbsp of spinach and 1/2 tbsp of beans. Serve while still warm.

Voila, you just made a tasty appetizer!