[Sca-cooks] back to food by request :) was Re: Faith and chellenges
Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius
adamantius.magister at verizon.net
Wed May 31 12:25:37 PDT 2006
On May 31, 2006, at 2:51 PM, Ana Valdes wrote:
> My grandmother (she was Italian) made a succulent cauliflower gratin
> covered with a thick Bechamelsauce and a lot of cheese and nutmeg.
> It was really elegant, the nutmeg was a hit.
> Ana
I was going to suggest something similar. The French equivalent would
be Chouxfleurs (I think) Mornay en gratin. One of the cool things
about classical French cookery is its modularity; you can plug in
different elements as you wish. Start with a pint of medium-thin
bechamel/white sauce made with about 2 cups of milk, 1/4 cup each of
flour and butter made into a white or blonde roux, a small onion, a
clove or two, grated nutmeg to taste, etc. etc. Reduce a bit, turn
that into cream sauce by adding... cream. Reduce a little more, then
add grated cheese. Classically, for Mornay Sauce that would be
Parmagiano or Gruyere, but cheddar is good, too. Cut and blanch your
fleurs till just barely tender, drain well, spread in a baking dish
and top with sauce. Stir lightly to make sure all is covered...
The other big secret thingie is to use real bread crumbs from actual
bread, not those dry, beige, toasted crumbs from a can. Put these in
a pan with melted butter or good olive oil and toast them slowly
until they begin to brown, like a roux. Good additions are much
crushed garlic, black pepper, and chopped parsley after the crumbs
have been taken off the flame. Cheese would not hurt, but I think
we're treading close to the textbook definition of gilding the lily.
In this case, literally. Probably making the crumbs first and letting
them cool wouldn't be a bad thing...
Tops cheesy-sauced fleurs with crumbs, bake in a 375-degree oven for
around 25-40 minutes, or until brown on top and bubbly in the middle...
Adamantius
>
> On 5/31/06, Anne-Marie Rousseau <dailleurs at liripipe.com> wrote:
>> on food
>>
>> ok, so I have a bunch of folks coming over and our recent CSA
>> basket gave me a
>> yummy cauliflower.
>>
>> anybody have a favorite collie gratin recipe? I have this vision
>> of a creamy sauce
>> with some sort of crunchy savory (parmasean/bread crumbs?) topping.
>>
>> any ideas? I know its not medieval but there's an amazing brain
>> trust here...
>>
>> --Anne-Marie, who could fall back on the elizabethan collies with
>> egg lemon sauce
>> if need be....
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>
>
> --
> "A human being is a part of the whole, called by us 'Universe,' a part
> limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and
> feelings as something separated from the rest -- a kind of optical
> delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for
> us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few
> persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this
> prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living
> creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to
> achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in
> itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security."
> -- Albert Einstein
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"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils mangent de la
brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them
eat cake!"
-- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
"Confessions", 1782
"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
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