Cauliflower Mac & Cheese

Like I mentioned yesterday I have a fancy new blue camera to take pictures of food. I'm excited to have a camera that will actually focus on things. In addition, Jacob's parents got me a Dutch oven! This was the perfect gift as Alden moved out after graduation and took all his nice All-clad pots and pans with him, including the Dutch oven I used for making short ribs! The new Dutch oven has become my favorite kitchen toy, and I use it for everything. It's Martha Stewart brand, the same kind Ina Garten uses (I think), and it's blue to match my new camera.

Jacob's been begging me to make him homemade macaroni and cheese, so I made it as my new pot's inaugural dish. I kinda surprised him though by making cauliflower mac & cheese with bacon. I found the recipe on Williams-Sonoma and made a few minor alterations. Instead of pancetta, I used bacon. Instead of water and white wine, I used chicken stock. And instead of Gouda, I used full on cheddar because the comments section said it wasn't very cheesey as is.

Ingredients:

3 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
8 oz. pancetta, julienned
1 1/2 lb. cauliflower, cut into 1/2-inch florets
3 to 6 Tbs. unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbs. white wine
3 1/2 cups milk
2 cups shredded fontina cheese
3 cups shredded Gouda cheese
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 lb. fresh macaroni, cooked until al dente

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 375ºF.

In a large bowl, combine the bread crumbs, melted butter, parsley, 1 tsp. of the salt and 1/2 tsp. of the black pepper.



In a 4-quart pot over medium heat, cook the pancetta until crispy, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and reserve the fat in the pot. Working in batches, add the cauliflower to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and caramelized, 10 to 12 minutes per batch, adding 1 to 3 Tbs. butter to the pot if needed. Transfer the cauliflower to a bowl. Add 2 Tbs. water to the pot and stir to scrape up the browned bits. Add to the bowl with the cauliflower.



In the same pot over medium heat, melt the remaining 3 Tbs. butter. Add the flour and cook, stirring frequently, about 3 minutes. Whisk in the wine and milk and cook until thickened, about 10 minutes. Add the cheeses, the remaining 2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. black pepper, cayenne, nutmeg and cream and stir until melted. Then stir in the pasta, pancetta and cauliflower. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top.

Bake for 30 minutes, then turn the oven to broil and cook until the bread crumbs are crispy and brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Serves 10 to 12.

This recipe definitely makes enough for a large group, so invite some friends over. I had mac & cheese for lunch every day this week.

Growing up, my mom's cauliflower and cheese sauce was one of my favorite foods. And for my 17th or 18th birthday I just had my mom make a big casserole dish of that and stick a birthday candle in it. Needless to say this recipe was calling to me. I must say however, that cauliflower sauteed in bacon grease is GENIUS! Yum.

Oh! And along with the fancy cookware, Alden reclaimed his food processor. So if you're wondering why the bread crumbs look so crouton-ey, it's because I used slices of baguette and chopped them up as finely as I could with a knife. I forgot that I was food processor-less when I was doing the grocery shopping. Oops!

Urban Belly

So, the only problem with Jacob being home is the fact that every minute is occupied. I don't really miss the down time all that much; in fact, I miss him more when he's gone, than I miss the free time when he's here, which I guess if a good thing. But it doesn't leave much time for reading and writing. We do a lot of eating however, so I have some material backing up on me.

Another consequence of having no down time is less cooking, and more eating out. Although this is mostly because I don't want to feed Jacob like I feed myself, the same things over and over. And trying new things takes time and planning. The good news is, I am leaving Chicago soon and I still have a long list of restaurants to try so hopefully this summer the list will grow shorter.

One of those restaurants to get crossed off the list was Urban Belly. We took a drive down on the hottest day of the year so far, a balmy 95 degrees, in an A/C-free van. The interior of Urban Belly was cool, dark, and inviting after the sweltering heat and soon the air conditioning made it bearable to eat a bowl full of hot, steamy ramen topped with pork belly, shiitake mushrooms, and sliced radish. All of the food was full of flavor, and I experienced it like a punch in the mouth. It can't even be compared to our conception of Chinese take-out. The pork & cilantro dumplings were pan-fried and served with a traditional tangy, soy-based dipping sauce. Each bite oozes with a zesty lemon kick and rich pork goodness. The short rib & scallion rice did not shine like the rest of the meal, but it was still quite tastey. The twist came as a long-grain basmati rice, prepared like traditional fried rice and topped with slices of asian-style beef short rib. The lamb & brandy dumplings were the last thing we tried. These were steamed bundles, drizzled with what I think was a brandy-laced sauce (I can't remember), and served on top of braised edamame. The flavor was one of the most intense things I have ever experienced. Almost too intense. Strong to be sure. But still delicious.

The website does a much better photographic justice to the food than I do. But the good news is I now have a new digital camera! Jacob got me a Canon point-and-shoot digital camera for graduation, so things should look much better from here on out.

Iron & Wine, Friends & Beer

Last week we braved the sweltering 95 degree weather to attend an Iron & Wine concert downtown at Millennium Park only to find that the rest of Chicago had the same idea. I've never seen so many people packed in one place. The next closest thing was probably the night Obama was elected president. I wasn't actually there but I can imagine.

The crowds and the weather didn't kill our spirits though and we enjoyed the picnic we brought with us. Unibroue Ephemere, brie and crackers, hummus and chips, and a big bag of cherries.