Saffron and Roasted Cauliflower Soup

I adapted a recipe for Saffron Cauliflower Soup that was in The Oregonian yesterday - not many changes except that I used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth, green onions instead of chives, and no tahini. I'm sure it would have been completely delicious and over the top with tahini, but they didn't have it where I picked up the cauliflower and saffron. I roasted the cauliflower before adding it to the broth in the hope of boosting the flavor even without the tahini.

Here's the recipe as it appeared in The Oregonian. I've noted any substitutions I made.

Also, I used my pressure cooker to steep the saffron in the broth, and again to cook the cauliflower and potato in the broth. I still cooked the cauliflower and potato for about 20 minutes, plus cooling time, but I speculate that this is what allowed me to get away with using small yellow potatoes instead of a starchier Russet(t?) and still have a nice potato-thickened broth.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth, or a combination of broth and water)
  
• 1/8 teaspoon saffron powder or threads
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 medium white onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 head cauliflower, broken into florets (I kind of just chopped it up, since I wanted to roast the pieces quickly. Tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper; roasted at 450 for about 25-30 minutes, until soft and a little browned)
  
• 1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (I used five small yellow potatoes because I already had them on hand)
  
• 2 tablespoons tahini (didn't have, didn't use)
  
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Chopped fresh chives for garnish (used green onions. Chives would have been yummy)

In a medium pot, bring the broth to a boil and add the saffron. Turn off the heat and let the broth sit for 10 minutes, allowing the saffron to steep.

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat and sauté the onion until translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the cauliflower and potato and stir. Add the broth to the cauliflower mixture and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 25 minutes on low heat, until the cauliflower is fork-tender.

Transfer the soup to a blender (I just used my stick blender) and add the tahini. Working in batches, blend the soup until smooth and velvety. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer the soup back to the pot and reheat on low.

Serve immediately in soup bowls, garnished with the chopped chives.

I can't figure out how to incorporate my photos into the text after the fact with the new Blogger, so here are my pictures:

Cauliflower prior to roasting.

The cooked cauliflower and potato in the saffron broth.


The soup! Sooooo thick and creamy, even without the tahini. I can't wait for lunch tomorrow!

Jaded

http://www.jadeteahouse.com

Nah, I would be "jaded" if I avoided the first obvious blog post title that presented itself.

I enjoyed my experience at this place so much last night, that I'm resurrecting my weblog. Next step: finding and charging my camera, taking pictures of things that I cook again, etc.

THIS PLACE ROCKS. Now. Disclaimer. Part of the reason that it rocks so strongly is because it's like the proprietors designed it with Carrina's dream restaurant in mind from start to finish. Adorable but unpretentious exterior? Yup. Sunny, laid-back, high-ceiling interior? Indeed. Oh, yes - the food. Menu with Vietnamese baguette sandwiches (banh mi, right? All that pickled crunchy daikon goodness) in the center, but splayed out in all directions, from sticky fish sauce wings (yes) to pho (YES) to spicy rice noodles of varied shapes and sizes (YES!).

But wait. You call yourself a "Teahouse and Patisserie." Meaning that I could sip on what sound to be satisfying teas and enjoy the free wi-fi or board games that are hanging out in that casual section toward the back? I won't, because this place is far, far from my neighborhood - but I COULD, which edges this place towards its third Carrinalin star.

And... what's that - patisserie? I'm sorry, in addition to baking your own fantastic baguettes for the sandwiches, you also have a cornucopia of baked, puffed, and/or filled goods? As we were walking out, I saw someone being served a layered, moussy, cross-section invention in pale green - some sort of matcha tiramisu? There were also multi-colored sandwich macaroons, a broiled s'more cookie (Mike liked it) and, and, AND - an amazing chewy sesame ball* (think cream puff or beignet except the texture is fifty times better) with pureed and fluffed angels' wings inside. Oh, I'm told that was actually some sort of combination of sweet bean paste and coconut. Served with a caramel dipping sauce. And the caramel dipping sauce officially gets Jade to its fourth star.

Mike had the sandwich with the barbecued pork. He couldn't eat a lot of it because he didn't pay attention to the cilantro advisory, but I sampled quite a bit and can tell you that it was everything wonderful. The daikon slices were as thick as maybe three pieces of copier paper. Carrot, cilantro, cilantro mayo, a little marination magic on the veggies, and barbecued pork - BOOM. Magic. And magic bread that holds up through it all.

I had the sticky fish sauce wings and rice. I've heard people talk about them at Pok Pok but have a bit of a chip on my shoulder for that place. I'm not a wings person, but I had to try them and was glad I did - crispy, sticky, SALTY, sweet. Good meat. Cilantro sprigs on top. Some cucumber, tomato, and plenty of wing-y juice to entertain me while I waited for my molten wings to cool down. They weren't braised wings drowned in sauce, which is what I have on occasion observed when I see others eat wings. Each individual wing was a crackling little treat. The coating reminded me in some weird way of a candy store at the coast - but if that creeps you out, don't listen to me, because all you need to know is that they were awesome.

In summary - I am now a fangirl. Now if only this restaurant-in-a-house could take a Dorothy-like journey up the river to St. Johns - I would be SET!

*appears in the left-hand corner of the picture

Sushi, Deconstructed

Okay, not really deconstructed. And probably not really sushi. But I'm sick, and I'm bored, and it seemed high time to put up another post here.

My coworker let me try her version of this stuff the other morning, and it was DELICIOUS. Her salmon was way better than mine, and I think she also used some fancy plum paste - umeboshi? It was tantalizing. Mine didn't have the same kick, but it was still very yummy.

Basically, it's a hollowed-out cucumber partially filled with thinly sliced crisp vegetables, and then stuffed the rest of the way with cooked salmon. Next time, I will probably use an organic and unwaxed cucumber so that I feel good about leaving the skin on, since I think that would make the final sliced "sushi" round look even more attractive to the eye.

I have actually made this for myself two nights in a row now. Last night I used a little bit of avocado; tonight I didn't have avocado, but used some green bell pepper instead.

This can serve two people if served with a small soup, noodles, or rice (I think if you serve it with rice, it comes closer to qualifying as "deconstructed"). Tonight, I had it with some udon noodles with the extra chopped carrots and bell peppers.

- 1 cucumber, peeled (if desired), cut in half crosswise, seeds scraped out with long paring knife or some other skinny utensil
-about 3 oz (1/2 tiny can) canned salmon (cooked fresh salmon, or smoked salmon, would certainly be delicious as well)
- 1/2 small carrot, cut into very thin square strips about half the length of the cucumber (you will probably have some extra carrot to snack on)
-some other vegetable or fruit cut into thin, long strips, such as bell pepper, avocado, daikon radish, regular radish, green onion, etc.
-rice vinegar or other vinegar, if available
-soy sauce, plum sauce, anything else you would like to use for dipping
-black sesame seeds for garnish (totally optional)

1) Toss the salmon with a little bit of vinegar in a small bowl (not pictured below - this is just a gratuitous picture of all the ingredients).

Here are the veggie strips (below)

Here are the hollowed-out cucumber halves.

Take each cucumber half and fill the hollow about one-third of the way with the vegetable strips.

Then, stuff the rest of the hollow with the salmon, bit by bit. Take about a half-spoonful at a time and press it down to the bottom of the hollow with the paring knife.

When no more salmon will go into the cucumber, slice off the end with a sharp knife so that the cross-section is smooth.

If desired and if you have time anyway, store the cucumber halves upright (see below) over a towel in the fridge while you get the rest of your dinner ready. I found that my salty salmon helped drain the cucumber and veggies of some of their water even in the short 15 minutes that I had the cucumber halves propped up.

Now comes the fun part - like peeling the backing off a temporary tattoo, or drying your hair so you can see what color you actually just dyed it, you get to slice the cucumber halves into rounds. The portion below came from half of a cucumber.

...that's it! Serve with soy sauce and/or anything else you like to accompany your sushi.