Saturday, July 06, 2013

Blog Contagion

This is antique food, so I found an ancient snapshot-type frame for it. The preparation dates back to 2008 (that's antique), when everybody learned how to make cauliflower steaks. I had to play along, too. You know, way back then.

I really loved my cauliflower steak, back, oh, five years ago. And then I never made another one. I mean, it was good enough to eat, but I got this notion that it had been a fad, was passé, and I'd look horribly out of date. (Note to self: It's just food! You're all into your Green Goddess dressing and your Chicken Divan... That's old!)

So, not long ago, by means of blog contagion, I wanted to cook a cauliflower the way somebody or other had, roasted, whole, in the oven. It was new to me. It was modern! Pretty, browny, sort of stunning to look at.

We had the cauliflower in the fridge, but then, by blog contagion, I came across a condiment called muhammara, which I had never heard of. I Googled it, and found out I had, in fact, eaten it before when a guest brought some to my house. So that's what it was called. It's a mixture of roasted red bell peppers, chopped walnuts, bread crumbs, a chopped jalapeño, lemon juice, garlic and oil. We made some, and ate a little with bread. Terribly interesting.

Do you see where this is going? Yeah. We thought the leftover muhammara would be delicious with that cauliflower, but suddenly a whole, roasted cauliflower seemed wrong. Gross. Bulbulous.

We swallowed our pride. So steaks it is, simply prepared by browning both sides in a skillet with a little butter or oil. They get such a beautiful, toasty crunch on the edges. And they cook really fast, so keep a sharp knife handy to poke them to see how tender they are getting.

Then, warm up a little muhammara, which isn't usually done but nobody wanted cold sauce on warm food, and slather some on your outmoded cauliflower steaks. Try to live down the shame. But man, this is good.

Eat, enjoy, and remind yourself what a dope you are. Cauliflower steaks are officially back in the repertoire.

9 comments:

Zoomie said...

Whatever goes around, comes around. I'm glad you are spearheading a resurgence of cauliflower steaks.

cookiecrumb said...

Zooms, if cauliflower steaks experience a resurgence anywhere but in my kitchen, it'll be a mackerel.* I'm just not getting that many readers anymore. Still fun, though.

*miracle

Greg said...

From food, cocktails, photography and fashion everything (if you live long enough) comes back around again. BTW what app did you use on your photo?

cookiecrumb said...

Hey Greg. Yeah, it always strikes me as funny that food is fashionable. I guess it's important for restaurants that need to keep a current vibe happening. But at home? It's just food, ya doofus! (Said doof being me.)

The photo app is Photobucket. It's not high-end PhotoShop quality, but there are a few fun things. What the heck ever happened to Piknik? I know Google bought it, but I can't find it.

Greg said...

They added a bunch of the features to Picasa and called the rest Creative Kit. I can do everything I care to do in Picasa and it is all free!

cookiecrumb said...

Well, thanks, Greg. I knew about Creative Kit, but I can't get to it. And even Picasa does very little anymore. I probably have to access from the mainframe, not this mobile.
I appreciate your help.

Zoomie said...

Go check your stats. I always feel like the same five people are reading but when I check my stats, I find that 70-80 others are out there reading and just don't care to comment. I wish they would, but I'm okay with my "regulars." :-) BTW, thanks for being one of the regulars!

cookiecrumb said...

Hey, Zoom, wow, I never check my stats, but I just did and I'm getting a fair amour of page views every day. Huh. I don't think I want to get hooked on checking, though...
I'm guilty myself of lurking at so many blogs. I usually feel like I'm late to the party over there, so I feel shy about putting in my own two cents.

Glad to be one of your regulars, friend.

Zoomie said...

I know what you mean. When there are already 137 comments, I somehow doubt that mine will be read, so I lurk a lot, too. Like you, I don't want to become a slave to stats, but I find it reassuring every now and then to check. My stats have grown over these many years, a few at a time. Still not impressive like some, but enough for me.