Sunday, April 06, 2008
Food, Recipes

Give cauliflower a chance

Make grilled squid a la Tavola Trattoria

CREDIT:Photos/Melissa Libby & Associates

I rediscovered cauliflower when I was developing a dish that has become a staple of La Tavola Trattoria’s menu. I wanted to do calamari, but I didn’t want to do it fried (we don’t have a fryer anyway). Also, I wanted to use the great organic cannellini beans we get from Italy. I also wanted an ingredient that would reflect Southern Italian coastal cooking. When I started thinking about that, ingredients like escarole, chicory, broccoli and rapini started to pop into my head. And then there it was. We gave cauliflower a try with the grilled squid and cannellini beans, topped it with lemon agrumato oil and tried it out as a special. Soon we put it on the menu and haven’t looked back since. It’s very popular with our guests, and it’s also something you don’t see in every Italian restaurant.

Growing up, I was never crazy about cauliflower. I just associated with bad vegetable trays, raw and ugly, trying to figure out how much ranch dressing or French onion dip that I had to put on it for its naturally bitter flavor to go away. It wasn’t until I really started cooking that I discovered that, with little effort, you could turn that bitterness into caramelized goodness, especially with a little help from my old friend garlic. Now at the restaurant, we roast the cauliflower that goes with our squid dish. We toss it with roasted garlic, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper and cook it in the oven until it’s slightly crispy and golden. We also have it pureed and folded into our risotto, which accentuates cauliflower’s richness. It’s also economical and relatively non-seasonal, which makes things a little easier on any chef.

In Italy, there are several varieties of cauliflower used in cooking; these include white, Romanesco and various green, purple brown and yellow varieties. Most of the cauliflower production comes from the southeast region of Puglia. Often you will find it there with short stubby pastas or with the classic Puglian pasta orecchiette. And I’ve also seen it in Rome as a cauliflower sformato, or savory custard that dates back to the Renaissance. And I’ve seen it in recipes from as far south as Sicily, where it is cooked, mashed with a fork and then mixed with eggs, cheese and breadcrumbs to make meatballs, which are fried and tossed with pasta. The last one sounds phenomenal, and I’m asking myself why we haven’t tried this yet. There’s an almost endless list of Italian recipes that use cauliflower, mostly from southern Italy, especially since it’s such a flexible, economical ingredient.

Nutritionally speaking, cauliflower is low in fat, high in dietary fiber and vitamin C. Cauliflower shares with broccoli and cabbage several phytochemicals, which are beneficial to our health and include anti-cancer compounds that reduce the risk of prostate or breast cancer. It also contains substances which may improve the liver’s ability to detoxify carcinogenic substances.

So give cauliflower another chance. It’s definitely one of the more underappreciated vegetables (see rutabaga) that deserves its moment in the sun—or roasting in the oven. It’s versatile, economical and, when you’re eating it, you can imagine yourself having it with rustic, homemade orecchiette pasta sitting in a trattoria in Puglia, sipping on a glass of Salice Salentino and watching the day go by. Or at least that’s what I do. SP
Craig Richards is the executive chef at La Tavola Trattoria. 992 Virginia Ave. 404-873-5430. www.latavolatrattoria.com.

GRILLED SQUID WITH CAULIFLOWER

Makes 1 quart

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 ounces squid, cleaned tubes and tentacles
• 1 cup cannellini beans, cooked
• ½ head cauliflower
• 3 cloves roasted garlic
• 1 ounce lemon agrumato olive oil
• 3-4 parsley leaves
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 pinch chili flakes

INSTRUCTIONS:
Marinate the squid overnight with parsley, thyme, garlic and olive oil. Soak the beans overnight, if dry, and cooked until well done and season to taste. Cut the cauliflower into bite-size pieces. Toss with garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast covered in a 400 degree F oven for 20 minutes. Uncover. Then roast for 15 minutes uncovered.

Heat up a griddle, and place squid with one tablespoon of unsalted butter on griddle, and weigh down with a heavy object, preferably a brick wrapped in foil. Press the brick down to help the squid caramelize on the griddle. Cook for three minutes on each side.

Meanwhile, cook roasted cauliflower with cannellini beans and a pinch of chili flakes.

Spoon beans and cauliflower into warm bowl, top with agrumato olive oil and parsley and serve.