Cauliflower Walnut Bolognese

As if this Cannibal Stew classic wasn't proof enough you can do an awesomely hearty vegan pasta sauce, here's another one, swapping in cauliflower & walnuts for chickpeas.

Recipe

• ~1 lb cauliflower (most of a head?) chopped into florets
• ~1/2 c walnuts (was doing some metric conversions here...)
• 1/4 c nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• salt & pepper
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 c water
• 1 tsp sugar

Get your food processor out, and chop up your cauliflower, then add walnuts, then seasoning (nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, salt & pepper). Lay out on a baking sheet, drizzle with oil, and roast at 400 for at least 20 minutes, mixing up partway through.

Heat some oil in a big saucepan and add onions. Once they're looking good, add the other veggies, and cook 10 minutes or more.

Prob start your pasta in here.

Add the other seasonings to the saucepan along with the cauliflower mixture, and stir up. Mash in the tomatoes, along with the water and sugar. Simmer ~20 minutes.

OK maybe start the pasta now instead. Combine and serve!

Notes

This one came out really well! Despite a healthy appetizer of whiskey that may have resulted in some struggles with said metric conversions, and forgotten ingredients like water and sugar... Main note is, it seemed way less tomato-ey than expected, so we added an extra can of diced tomatoes and prob could have done more. Worth playing around with!

Cauliflower Miso Soup

Tried to do something light and healthy that could use up some of the extra miso paste from the last recipe, and found this...

Recipe

head of cauliflower, floret-ed
2 shallots, peeled and cut into quarters
4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 tbsp red miso
1 tsp sherry vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce
1 c unsweetened almond milk
2-4 c vegetable stock or water
1/4 c walnuts

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Toss the cauliflower, shallots, and thyme with some olive oil, salt & pepper.  Roast on a parchment-lined baking sheet, 20-25 minutes until starting to brown.
• Set aside a few florets for a fancy garnish.
• Blend the roasted veggies with the miso, vinegar, soy sauce, almond milk, and 1 c of the stock.  Add more stock and keep blending until you like the texture.
• Heat the mixture in a pot.
• Meanwhile, heat a little olive oil and toast the walnuts with more thyme, salt & pepper.
• Serve the soup topped with cauliflower, walnuts, and extra oil if you want!

Notes

Might not have had super high expectations for this one, but it was really, really good!  Roasted cauliflower is pretty good on its own, and everything combined had a nice, rich, nutty taste.  Also classy.  Yum!

Paleo Marinated Tuna Steaks

It's been a while since I've put up a new recipe, but now with a fully-functional kitchen out west, time to get back into it with King Sooper's/Whole Foods' finest ingredients.  Starting with a couple frozen tuna steaks, the internet turned up this recipe:

Recipe

tuna steak(s)
3 tbsp fat (coconut oil recommended)
1 tsp ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c cilantro, chopped
juice & zest of 1 lime
salt & pepper

Mix together your fat, ginger, garlic, cilantro, lime, salt, and pepper.  Slather it on the tuna and let sit for a few hours.

Scrape off the excess marinade - saving it for later!  Heat your grill or skillet medium high, and cook about 4 minutes per side.  Heat up the leftover marinade briefly to make a thick paste.  Serve with avocado, spinach, whatever you want...

Notes

The tuna steaks came frozen solid; it took the better part of a week in the fridge before they were anything other than hockey pucks.  This made me a little cautious, so after searing both sides of the steaks, I popped the skillet in the oven for some extra time to cook through.  The steaks were just slightly on the overdone side...

Some people are strongly anti-cilantro.  While I'm no irrational hater, there always seems to be something strange about a strong cilantro flavor.  In this dish, it seemed to come mainly from the paste rather than the marinade process.  Garlic, ginger, and cilantro make an interesting combination...

Here's the somewhat colorful result, helped on by roasted orange cauliflower - toss florets with a sliced onion, garlic cloves, olive oil, and spices, and roast at 425 until soft (to be honest, the caramelized onions were maybe the best part of the meal).