Roasted Cauliflower and Barley Salad with Caesar Dressing

Merry Christmas!  I have a few minutes to spare.  I am going to TRY and post some fun recipes for Christmas and I have some good ideas for salads, appetizers and deserts.  Salads seemed like a good place to start—as a good recovery from Thanksgiving (for now) and also as a nice accompaniment to a main course (for Christmas).

This warm salad is substantial enough for lunch or a light dinner, but would also taste great with a roast or fish.  Roasted cauliflower is probably one of the best foods in the world, and something about a smooth coat of egg, garlic and parmesan from the Caesar dressing makes it so luxurious.  Don’t be scared of the sugar, it just helps it become more crispy brown—it doesn’t make it too sweet.  The egg, not unlike carbonara, coats the grain and cooks through, so don't fear the raw egg.
 

1 head cauliflower
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp olive oil 
1 tsp pepper

8 ounces barley 

1 egg yolk
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp. lemon juice (from 1 to 1/12 lemons)
1/4 cup grated parmesan
pepper
1 anchovy fillet
pinch salt
1 tsp pepper
1/4 cup olive oil 

4 sprigs thyme, leaves picked, finely chopped 

1/2 cup pine nuts 

Preheat the oven to 400.  Cut up the cauliflower into florets and spread them on a cookie sheet lined with foil.  Sprinkle the salt, sugar and drizzle the olive oil.  Cook the cauliflower until golden, approximately 25-30 minutes.   On a separate baking sheet, bake the pine nuts for 5 minutes at 400 when the cauliflower is almost done.  

Cook the barley in salted boiling water according to instructions.  (I bought parboiled barley and cooked for 12 minutes).  Drain when tender. 

To make the dressing, combine egg yolk, garlic, lemon juice, pepper, pinch of salt and anchovy in a blending.  Add the oil slowly and then the parmesan.  Blend for 1 minute until creamy.  While the barley, pine nuts and cauliflower are still warm, combine all ingredients in a bowl including the thyme.  The warmth of the salad should cook the egg through.

Polenta and greens casserole

The last few months have been some of the most challenging of residency.  I felt stretched to the limit of emotional and mental energy.  4am and I became great friends. 

The greatest challenge is fitting “it all” in.  There are only 24 hours in a day.  With work between 12 and 16 hours a day plus commuting to work, bathing, and dressing, what does that leave? At least I’m lucky enough to be able to come home every night as we have a night float system. 

What is “it all” then?  There’s no such thing.  For me, making dinner, exercising 3 to 4 times a week, sleeping, spending time with my husband and occasionally meeting a friend is enough.  Long gone are the days of piano lessons, reading Madame Bovary, and watching Law and Order marathons.

But sometimes I need those piano lessons and Law and Order marathons to feel like me.  And sometimes I need “me” to be there when my patients are sick and asking hard questions.  So thank God for some moments of peace and quiet for the past couple of weeks.  Thank God for sleep and books, mountains and fresh air.  Bless the hour I had to sit in front of the stove on a Sunday afternoon and lazily stir polenta. 

I shouldn’t complain.  I should be grateful to have a job at all, especially one that I like that’s fulfilling.  It could always be worse, much much worse.  But I want my life to be great.  So, I’m just going to keep trying to find those moments just for me to make me me.  Keep stirring my polenta.

This polenta casserole could be lasagna’s green, vegetarian, gluten free cousin.  It is a great main course but also a wonderful side dish.  It is quite rich but also very healthy, thanks to a properly made polenta that tastes rich with just salt and water.  It is topped with a layer of green veggies and a small layer of cheese and butter to help it brown.  The beauty of this dish though is that it could be an afternoon affair or very quick to prepare.  It could be made with pre-cooked polenta in one of those plastic tubes and topped with frozen spinach which would still be delicious. 

Polenta and greens casserole

4 cups cooked polenta***

2 cloves garlic

4 eggs

½ cup skim milk

1 can artichokes in brine

2 bunches fresh greens (I used yellow beet greens and brocollini) but the options are endless, kale, chard and spinach would all be wonderful

½ lb brussel sprouts quartered

6 oz fresh mozzarella

¼ cup fresh parmesan grated

1 tbs unsalted butter

salt and pepper

chili flakes

Make the polenta or unwrap it.  Pre-heat the oven to 375.  Butter an 8x8 casserole.  Pat down the polenta into the bottom of the casserole in an even layer.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Blanch the greens in the boiling water for 5 minutes.  Remove the greens and strain but keep the water boiling.  Chop the greens and wring out all of the water by squeezing them in your hands or through a strainer.  Blanch the brussel sprouts for 5 minutes in the same water as the greens.  Do not press but drain well as you want the vegetable layer to have as little water as possible.  Drain the artichokes, chop and wring as much liquid as possible from them.  In a medium bowl whisk the eggs and milk with salt and pepper until the eggs are foamy and a paler color.  Add the vegetables, chili flakes and garlic to the egg mixture and stir to combine.  Layer the egg mixture on top of the polenta.   Thinly slice the mozzarella.  Evenly distribute the cheese on top of the casserole.  Add the grated cheese.  Cut the butter into very small pieces and place on top of the casserole.  Bake for 45 minutes at 375.  Increase the temp of the oven to 450 and bake for another 10 minutes until golden and bubbly. 

****To make the polenta, I stole the recipe/idea from Marcela Hazan.  You need 7 cups of heavily salted water boiling over medium high heat in a large pot.  With 1 2/3 cups of Italian polenta add the corn meal grain by grain through your hand over boiling water, constantly stirring to avoid lumps.  Continue to stir.  Once the mixture starts to be violent and sputter, reduce the heat to medium-low or until there are only a few bubbles emerging from the polenta.  Continue to stir constantly with a wooden spoon.  After about 45 minutes, the mixture will be thick and will completely come off the sides of the pot. 

The (not so) Rote Oat

I have a lifelong bond with oatmeal.  It’s a special one that I inherited as a child, without choice.  You see, my father used to work for Quaker.  Not only did he work for the company, now long swallowed up by PepsiCo, but he worked diligently for the cereal division.

My father’s job made us three little girls (me and my sisters that is), the princesses of Cap’n Crunch, Life cereal, and most importantly Quaker Oats.  The relationship with Quaker was deep: we appeared on the back of the Cap’n Crunch box in Hawaiian muumuus, my dad’s co-workers crafted a carton of oatmeal long buried in the basement with his picture overlaying Mr. Quaker, and we tested products such as Toasted Oatmeal in white unlabeled boxes long before they were released to the public. 

My dad still diligently eats oatmeal everyday, although my feelings for oatmeal are a little more tenuous.  I don’t think there is any scientific evidence that it “sticks to your bones”.  If it did, I think that orthopedists would have their patients avoid it.  It would make surgery very gooey.

Oatmeal has staged various health claims, including the ability to reduce both blood pressure and cholesterol.  In a 2001 study in the Journal of Nutrition, those that were put in a trial group of oatmeal consumption on a low calorie diet versus those that were simply on a low calorie diet had a significant reduction in both blood pressure and total cholesterol [1].  Although similar health benefits have been shown in other studies, in the 2007 Cochrane Review “Wholegrain cereals for coronary heart disease” suggests to interpret these findings cautiously.  The studies on oatmeal were underpowered, conducted over the short term, and only showed their effect on individual risk factors of coronary artery disease.  None researched oatmeal’s effects on overall morbidity and mortality of heart disease [2].  

Regardless of whether or not oatmeal prevents heart disease, it still contains healthy amounts of soluble fiber and most importantly, can be quite tasty.  I think the best way to celebrate oatmeal is with cookies.  My friend Beth asked me to make cookies as my next recipe since my name is “OB Cookie” and I’ve only featured one cookie recipe.  These cookies are a spin on the classic oatmeal raisin.  Instead of plump raisins, I added chopped up candied ginger, and to accompany the spice and kick of the ginger, I added orange zest to the batter.  In attempts to make the cookies a bit healthier (although no less fatty) while still keeping them rich, I substitute almond butter for a lot of the butter normally added to oatmeal raisin cookies, and I use whole wheat white flour.

Whole Grain Oatmeal Almond Orange Ginger Cookies

½ cup (1 stick) butter softened
1/3 cup unsweetened creamy almond butter
Zest of one orange
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup whole wheat white flour
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking soda
1 ¼ cup oatmeal
1/3 cup candied ginger finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350.  With mixer cream butter, almond butter, orange zest, sugar until creamy.  Add vanilla and egg, beat until mixed.  In medium bowl, combine salt, flour and baking soda and add slowly to butter mixture, beating until combined.  Add oats and ginger, mix until combined.  Drop ~1/4 cup mixture onto baking sheet.  Bake about 8 minutes or until golden brown on top.

1. Keenan, JM., et al. “Oat ingestion reduces systolic and diastolic blood pressure in patients with mild or borderline hypertension: a pilot trial.” The Journal of Family Practice, v. 51 issue 4, 2002, p. 369.
2. Kelly, SA., et al. “Wholegrain cereals for coronary heart disease.” Cochrane Database Syst Rev, issue 2, 2007, p. CD005051.