Sweet, aromatic coriander seeds accent the mild, nutty flavor of cauliflower gently cooked
with ginger, green chilies and scallions. Turmeric gives the vegetable a golden hue.
I just slipped in under the wire.
Normally I hate cooking under pressure. (One of the many, many reasons you’ll never see me working in a restaurant kitchen, or sharpening my knives on Top Chef.) But this week I’ve been trying to beat the clock, using up all the vegetables in our CSA box before Elise leaves another bounteous delivery on our doorstep.
On Tuesday I cooked the last offerings: one cauliflower, two zucchini and a yellow crookneck squash.
Although very fresh cauliflower is delicious eaten raw—just ask Domino, our vegetable-craving Springer spaniel—it’s even better, in my view, when lightly steamed or sautéed and seasoned with spices. It doesn’t take much—just a little cumin or coriander, maybe some ginger and dried red chilies, a splash of citrus, some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
In Classic Indian Cooking, Julie Sahni writes: “Indians love cauliflower—they never seem to get enough of it. This particular fondness has resulted in the creation of cooking techniques that do justice to this very special vegetable.” It’s never boiled she says, because it might turn mushy. Instead, it is usually stir-fried and gently cooked in its own moisture just until tender.
I fell for the Sahni’s easy recipe for Gohbi Sabzi, Glazed Cauliflower with Ginger which can be found in the same book. I made a few small changes, shortening the cooking time for the nubile CSA cauliflower and adding left over scallions to the dish instead of chopped fresh coriander leaves, but it really is one of those rare recipes, perfect in its simplicity.
Basically you heat a few tablespoons of canola oil in a skillet, then in quick succession stir fry a spoonful of whole coriander seeds, shredded fresh ginger and a chopped green chili. Add turmeric and salt, roll the cauliflower florets around in the mixture, pour in a little hot water, cover and cook over a low flame for about 12 minutes, until the cauliflower is crisp-tender. Remove the cover, turn up the heat, add the scallions and stir fry for about 5 minutes until any liquid has been absorbed. Sprinkle with lemon juice and serve.
It is a stunningly beautiful dish. The turmeric turns the cauliflower a deep shade of golden yellow, a brilliant canvas for the emerald scallions. And the spices—warm sweet coriander seeds, thin shreds of fiery ginger, slightly bitter turmeric—retain their clear, bright flavors without overwhelming the mild, nutty taste of the vegetable.
After that, the zucchini and yellow crookneck squash could have been a let down, but I resurrected an old favorite with its own medley of vivid flavors: Summer Squash with Fresh Mint, Kalamata Olives and Ricotta Salata. Really this is a mid- summer dish, but it’s been almost 90 degrees this week and weapons-grade squash is already running rampant through the markets, so its time is nigh.
A few thoughts on “scheduling” your CSA cooking sessions. Michele Morris, who’s working on a cookbook for her own CSA in Colorado [see www.cookingwithmichele.com] recommends that you cook the most perishable things first: that would be lettuce, for instance, and certainly vegetables like sugar snap peas and corn which tend to get starchy. At the opposite end of the spectrum there are the keepers, like potatoes, turnips, and beets which could be held for a few weeks in a cool place. “Everything else falls somewhere in between,” she writes. In this week’s box, that would be the cauliflower and the squash, and maybe the baby carrots.
I also like another of Michele’s ideas: giving away what you can’t cook.
Surely your new neighbors would like a nice big bunch of rutabagas—or kohlrabi.
