Roasted romanesco cauliflower with pistachios and feta

This is seriously the easiest 30 minute meal ever. And pretty darn delicious, if I say so myself.

At Sunday's East Side farmer's market, this pretty little thing caught my eye, accompanied by a sign reading "End of Season Cauliflower:"

It's romanesco cauliflower, which is many cool things. It's an edible flower. It's also a fractal! The latent math nerd in me is excited. Each of its buds is composed of smaller buds, all arranged in logarithmic spirals. (Here is a delightfully nerdy article about it from Fourmi Lab.) It's also rich in Vitamin C, which I certainly need at the moment.

As I cook this meal, I'm getting over my once-a-year bug. Tonight is the first time I've wanted real food (i.e. food other than ice cream and pizza ... apparently when I'm sick I turn into a seven-year-old at a slumber party). And while I'm well enough to cook, I'm not well enough for the grocery store. So this is what I've come up with:

Roasted Romanesco Cauliflower with Pistachios and Feta (serves 2)

1 1/2 lbs romanesco cauliflower (although regular would work just fine)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sea salt
red pepper to taste
toasted pine nuts to taste (I like a lot)
a couple squeezes of fresh lemon juice
chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup feta cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. While the oven is heating, chop the cauliflower. Romanesco seems built around a core, so for me this was more like coring an apple than chopping a regular head of cauliflower.

Toss the cauliflower with the garlic, olive oil, and salt in an 8x8 baking dish. Roast for 30 minutes.

Once the cauliflower is done, toss it with the remaining ingredients. I served it over whole wheat pasta.
Roasting brings out a deliciously sweet, nutty flavor in the cauliflower, the full extent of which was probably lost to me, given my sniffles.

Because cupcakes are always in season

I've been quite delinquent with my market-going these past few weeks. Whether it's been Sunday morning twelve-mile hikes or just plain sleeping in, I've been occupied on weekend mornings. So while this post is't exactly about anything seasonal, does it matter? We're talking about cupcakes here, people. Cupcakes are always in season. This is a ginger cupcake with crystallized ginger topping and cream cheese/orange frosting. Mmm....

This recipe is from the January/February issue of Vegetarian Times, tweaked minimally. Because I can't reprint it, I thought I'd answer some questions about baking. Some people think of baking as an exact science - the flour has to be perfectly leveled in the measuring cup, not a quarter teaspoon more. I don't have the patience for exact science, so I don't bake that way, and everything usually works out for the best. But there are some seemingly weird things recipes will require that a lazy cook (like me, at times) might be tempted to skip. There are also quite a few substitutions you can make to work around what you've got in your kitchen.

For example, I used brown sugar instead of white, like I usually do. Brown sugar tends to make baked goods more dense and moist, which I generally prefer. If you want your baked goods to be lighter/crisper, use white.  Also, I came back from the store and realized I'd neglected to pick up buttermilk. What do you do if you don't feel like turning around, but still want that slight tang in your batter? Plain yogurt. I used the same amount of Greek yogurt as buttermilk (1/2 cup) and it worked out great. The other thing yogurt is great for is egg substitution. Eggs are a binding agent, but if you want to make vegan cupcakes without using that weird processed egg powder, get yourself some plain soy yogurt.

A couple things this recipe called for that you might be tempted to skip because you're rushed/you'd rather be watching Project Runway/etc.: Chopping butter into small pieces. Why bother, if it's all going to wind up blended together? Distributing the fat in the butter that way helps fluff the pastry while cooking. Nothing terrible will happen if you don't do it, but cutting your butter helps create a more even, aerated texture.

The recipe also called for melting butter with molasses and sugar, then cooling it for 15 minutes before mixing it with flour, egg, and spices. Wait, 15 minutes? But I have to be somewhere in, like, 20! Don't skip the cooling step. If you pour a hot substance into a mixture with egg, guess what? You'll cook the egg! Unless it's egg drop soup you're after, don't.

Wasabi-crusted tofu with bok choy

Ah, tofu, the old vegetarian standby. It's a great source of protein, but gets a bad rap. It often elicits an "ew" from non-veggie friends, and those who do eat it are often at a loss as to how to prepare it. Duh, deep-fry it. Everything tastes better deep-fried.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on the perspective of taste buds vs. health), I don't deep-fry at home. But I have experimented quite a bit with different ways to prepare tofu. Last week it was cooked in the pan with just cooking spray, and in the past I've dehydrated and frozen it, coated it with nuts, baked, and broiled it. The cool thing about tofu is it takes on the taste of any sauce/spice you use to prepare it, so it really is quite versatile.

This time around, I made my own wasabi spice blend in a coffee grinder, crusted the tofu with it, and served it over bok choy with ginger, garlic, and tamari.

Wasabi-crusted tofu with bok choy
Serves 3-4

Spice blend:
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp coriander pods
1/4 cup wasabi peas
Super-easy. Just throw it all in a spice/coffee grinder, and add/subtract to taste.

1 package extra-firm tofu
2 heads bok choy
9 oz spinach
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
tamari to taste
2 tbsp canola oil

1. The first thing you need to do with tofu is get some of the water out, or you'll have a soggy, crumbly mess. I just put a dish towel on a plate, cut the tofu into 1/3 inch slabs, and place another dish towel on top of the tofu. Let it sit for 20 minutes or so, occasionally pressing out the water. Then, you can cut the tofu into cubes.

2. Pour the spice blend into a small bowl, and coat the tofu cubes in the spices. Cook the tofu in 1 tbsp canola oil 2-3 min. per side. Transfer tofu to a plate.

3. Saute ginger and garlic in the other tablespoon of oil. When they begin to brown, add the bok choy and spinach and stir-fry until greens are cooked down, then add tamari to taste (or soy sauce, if you prefer). Serve over udon noodles or rice.