cavolfiore col formaggio / cauliflower with cheese

For the current edition of Cook the Books, we are reading Climbing The Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India by Madhur Jaffrey. The title clearly says what the book is about. What it doesn't say is that the volume includes a set of 32 recipes, which, I must admit, I browsed first (I guess that means I started reading the book from the end). Next, I will admit that I chose the recipe before knowing where it was mentioned in the book. It's that as soon as I read the title, Grandmother’s Cauliflower with Cheese (Cheese Vali Gobi), I knew I would make it, because I like cauliflower and I am always looking for recipes where i can use my homemade cheese (formaggio fatto in casa).

The recipe is mentioned towards the end of chapter 12:

In the dining room, there was a long, formal dining table and, joined onto it, two other dining tables of decreasing quality. There was a chair for my grandfather at the head of the formal table, a chair for my grandmother to his left, and more chairs for the grown-ups on either side. Farther down, at the tables of lesser quality generally reserved for children, chairs gave way to benches. We children were so far away from the head of the table that I did not know until I was told years later by my aunt Saran Bhua that my grandmother was a vegetarian and that she had invented the East-West dish spicy cauliflower with cheese that we all loved so much.

In the introduction to the recipe, Jaffrey says that she doesn't have her grandmother's exact recipe:

I never asked her, being too young at the time to know better. But the recipe that follows is a good approximation... and utterly delicious.

I can perfectly relate to the contents of the first sentence. I wish I had known better and asked for the recipes of dishes I enjoyed as a child (right now, for no particular reason, I am thinking of my aunt Lucia's giardiniera, pickled vegetable medley).

Back to "the East-West dish spicy cauliflower with cheese," my rendition is a variation of Jaffrey's approximation, since it includes some changes to the list of ingredients. Jaffrey adds a note regarding the chiles to use. I had just oven-roasted three Round of Hungary peppers (peperoni) — a.k.a., pimento peppers, a sweet variety that has thick flesh and is my current favorite pepper to roast — and decided to chop them and add them to the cauliflower.

As you can see in the photo of the dish, I used some white and some purple cauliflower, so the dish was quite colorful (both cauliflower and peppers were acquired at our farmers' market). Here is the list of the other adjustments I made to the given recipe:

• fresh turmeric (curcuma), grated, like the ginger (zenzero), using my Microplane grater
• a small, whole peperoncino (red hot chili pepper), instead of the hot green chiles and cayenne pepper
• half a tablespoon of ground coriander (coriandolo), instead of one tablespoon
• fresh parsley (prezzemolo) from my herb garden, instead of cilantro (which to my husband tastes like aluminum)
• no cream
• half a cup of grated homemade Montasio cheese of my own production (two slices of which are portrayed in the photo below), since I did not have any Cheddar cheese ready for consumption

I don't know how different my rendition is from the dish mentioned in the book. What I know is that I loved what came out of my oven and will certainly make it again. In fact, I already have some peppers in the fridge that I have roasted with the idea of adding them to my next realization of this recipe.

This is my contribution to the current edition of Cook the Books, hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. You can find the guidelines for participating in the event here, and here is the announcement.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

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Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

cavolfiore col formaggio

or launch the cavolfiore col formaggio audio file [mp3].

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Comments

[wizzy]

I've read this book but can't think now why i never tried to cook the recipes. What a good idea.

[Lori Lynn]

I like the image of the family's long table. Congrats on advancing to the next round at PFB Simona! Buona fortuna.
LL

[DebinHawaii]

Hi Simona,

I am so impressed with the fact you make your own cheese and used it in this dish! Am I crazy (likely) or is the picture of the dish itself missing? I see the pictures of the peppers and of the cheese and bread but not one of the dish itself.

Thanks for your entry. I am so wishing we could have a real potluck on this one as I want to taste everyone's delicious Indian food! ;-)

[Simona Carini]

Hi Wizzy. Now that I have had such a nice result, I think I will try some other recipe.

Thanks Lori Lynn, same to you!

Hi Deb and thanks for the question. No, you are not crazy: something happened and the photo disappeared. I must have deleted it accidentally after publishing the post. It is back in place now. I do also wish we could have a real potluck, first to meet each other in person and then to have a nice feast. A Cook the Books party would be a lot of fun.

[DebinHawaii]

Yay! There it is. It is colorful--purple cauliflower is such fun! I'll have two helping please. ;-)

[astrofiammante]

hai proprio ragione a dire che siamo sulla stessa lunghezza d'onda......ieri sera ho fatto i fagiolini in padella spolverati di formaggio ^______^ bacio e buon WE!!

[bellini valli]

Congratulations on advancing to the next round on becoming a Food Blog Star!!!! It's with dishes like this that you will sail through the competition.

[Simona Carini]

Thanks again, Deb, for the alert.

Ciao Astro. FAgiolini in padella spolverati di formaggio? Spero di vederli sul tuo blog: la ricetta ha un'aria molto interessante.

Thanks, Val, for the kind words and congratulations to you too!

[Laura]

Simona, che delizia! Adoro il cavolfiore e lo faccio spesso anche se sono l'unica a mangiarlo.

Il montasio fatto da te? Era il mio formaggio preferito da piccola e non l'ho ancora trovato in America.

Buon fine settimana!

[Kelly @ It's a Food Life]

This dish is beautiful with the colourful cauliflower!

[Katie]

That looks fantastic! I get roasted pimientos from Spain that will be perfect for this!

[Paz]

Yum! Like the reader above, I, too, am impressed with the fact you make your own cheese and used it in this dish!

Paz xoxo

[Simona Carini]

Ciao Laura. Capisco i tuoi figli, poiche' da ragazzina non ne andavo pazza. Ora lo adoro, soprattutto al forno, come in questa ricetta. Te la consiglio: anche riscaldato, il cavolfiore e' proprio gustoso. La mia version del Montasio certo non e' come quello vero, pero' e' un buon formaggio. Buon weekend anche a te.

Thanks, Kelly.

Thanks, Katie.

Thanks, Paz. It is indeed, a source of satisfaction to be able to use my homemade cheese in my dishes. I will share another example soon.

[Merisi Vienna]

What wonderful book tip and great dish,
mille grazie for both! :-)

I love roasted cauliflower, even if it is plain, or only parsley and salt added, but this recipe promises to carry the art of roasting cauliflower to new heights! I just know that I will send my husband to the store tomorrow morning, to procure all the ingredients, I may even help him cook, even though I should not leave my desk, but this dish is too good an excuse for procrastinating creatively.

A wonderful autumn Sunday to you,
Merisi

[Rachel]

I grew some purple cauliflowers but only a few are heading up in my garden. But what a wonderful dish to try and use them. Great post!

[Foodycat]

Purple cauliflower, how lovely!

I added quite a bit more cheese to mine, because I like my cauliflower cheese really cheesy. I thought the spicy flavours added such a wonderful extra dimension to the dish.

[Cantbelieveweate.wordpress.com]

Oh Yum!! I love roasted cauliflower, and I love roasted peppers... Melted cheese on anything is a healing salve...so this must be marvelous! What a great dish Simona!

[Claudia]

This cauliflower dish seems to have been a hit and I am waiting for some that looks good to show up in our market, then I can give it a try. Good job on making your own cheese! I've only done feta and ricotta.

[Simona Carini]

Ciao Merisi. I hope you made the dish and liked it.

Ciao Rachel. I tried growing cauliflower once and the result was so disappointing that I never repeated the attempt. I hope your purple cauliflower will do a final push and give you a satisfactory harvest.

Ciao Alicia. I actually have a weakness for purple produce, like purple cauliflower and potatoes. I agree with you that the dish could use more cheese than the original recipe.

Thanks, Glennis. I am gald you enjoyed the post.

Ciao Claudia. The dish comes highly recommended. Hard cheese requires mostly patience.

[Foodjunkie]

Hello Simona, I see that you are also hosting WHB this week! I also wanted to make cauliflower with cheese, but didn't get round to it in the end as I wouldn't find any good cauliflower. I have never seen purple variety before, it looks really good!

[Wanda]

I've never tried purple cauliflower but sure wish we could all bring our dishes and try some of all of them inspired by this book. yours looks good.

[Simona Carini]

Hi Jo. Both golden and purple cauliflower are available here, but I have not seen either in Italy, so I guess it is more a US thing. I have also bought cauliflower that is a hybrid white and purple. They all make a nice contribution to the color of the final dish.

Hi Wanda. I like purple vegetables. I should post a photo of my leek and potato soup with purple potatoes: it's really a visual surprise.

[Ann]

Simona, your dish looks fantastic, I am intrigued by all the different colored cauliflower. Your rendition of the dish with Italian cheese truly highlights how we can all globalize different cuisines to suit our purposes.

[Simona Carini]

Thank you so much, Ann, for your kind words.