So I found some T-Bones on sale at Sunflower (I'm becoming a pretty big fan of their all natural meat selection) and decided to dress 'em up with some beautiful yellow cauliflower. Yellow cauliflower is a relatively recent invention that is loaded with beta carotene (the good vitamin A). Its flavor is a little sweeter and its texture a little creamier than the white varietal.
For this dish I decided to steal a technique from Jose Andres that I saw on Iron Chef America (kudos food network for getting a Ferran Adria disciple / El Bulli graduate on the program, who apparently is good friends with Bobby Flay, but this didn't stop him from giving Bobby a beating in kitchen stadium). Incidentally, Andres has been nominated for the Outstanding Chef of the Year Award by the James Beard foundation. Grant Achatz of Chicago's Alinea fame has also been nominated. Achatz's culinary talents can be viewed here; I'd describe these pictures to be pure culinary erotica. The awards will be announced on June 8th, I'm pulling for either of these guys as much of their work with food is simply mind bending. Andres can also be seen on the PBS program Made in Spain, which I have started watching and have been so far very impressed with the flavor pairing knowledge displayed by Andres, though I'm hoping some of the dishes he attempts will reveal a little more of his journeyman / inventive technique in the future.
Back to the technique with cauliflower that I stole ... basically, this was to trim the very outer edge of the cauliflower with a paring knife to yield just little tidbits of the flowery outside. Once I did this, I decided there was no way I'd let all that remained go to waste, so while my intention was to saute the bits, I'd steam and puree the remaining stems. For the hash, I had braised black pork belly strips in pomegranate molasses, garlic, and sriracha. Black pork belly usually comes from Berkshire pigs which are considered an heirloom breed, and are prized for their flavor and texture. I took some of these strips and rendered out any remaining fat in a saute pan, then drained and toasted them to a light crispness, finally salting and chopping these into small crisps to match the size of the cauliflower bits. I browned a couple tablespoons of butter, caramelized 2 medium minced shallots, and then tossed in the various bits until a consistency like corned beef hash was achieved (the cauliflower bits should just start to soften a bit, again no mushiness). For the puree, I steamed the stem pieces for about 8-10 minutes and then blitzed them with a little cream, sea salt, and white pepper. The broccoli followed the cauliflower and was steamed for about 6 minutes.
Parsnip puree with steak is simply addictive (see the Christmas 2007 Menu in the archive), but this cauliflower puree was fabulous. I'm inspired now to play around with purees a little more in the very near future. The hash was great comfort food and strikingly different in texture and flavor to the puree, but the two married wonderfully on the plate. I'd never tasted pomegranate molasses before, but on a lark I grabbed it as a variation on blackstrap molasses (often used to make good bacon) at H-Mart (the Asian food super store I frequent) and am really glad I did. It has a bittersweet round fruit flavor with an acidic edge, which needs to be integrated with other flavors to be fully appreciated. The flavor seemed remarkably foreign to my palette at first, but became a craving shortly thereafter. Extremely good eats on this one.
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