TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2020
THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD — 3B
HOME & LIVING
Grilling cauliflower requires proper preparation
By Genevieve Ko
(2 to 3 pounds)
Kosher salt and freshly
ground black pepper
2 tablespoons everyday
olive oil
Los Angeles Times
Whole roasted caulifl ower
impresses as a vegan cen-
terpiece or fi lls you up as a
one-dish meal. The vegetable
can play the same role in
outdoor cooking, but needs to
be cut up fi rst. If you haven’t
tried grilled caulifl ower,
you’ll want to: It caramelizes
beautifully on the outside and
develops a chewy juiciness on
the inside, making it the best
meat alternative for live fi re
cooking. It’s naturally a little
sweet but still mild enough
to serve as a canvas for any
sauce or topping.
But you can’t throw a
whole head of caulifl ower on
the grill. By the time it cooks
through in the dry heat, the
fl orets either burn over a
hotter fi re or shrivel to jerky
over a lower heat. Caulifl ower
“steaks” — thick slabs that
leave you with fl oret-dense
rounded ends, which are
the best part — have been
popular in the last decade,
but they can’t hold together
and may fall through the grill
grates.
My solution is to cut the
caulifl ower in quarters from
top to bottom, leaving the core
and leaves intact. These fat
wedges offer a generous curve
of fl orets and some meaty
stalk and are easy to turn
on a grill for even charring.
To keep them from wither-
1. Prepare an outdoor grill
for direct grilling over medium-
high heat.
2. Trim the stem end off the
caulifl ower, cutting off only any
browned parts and leaving the
leaves intact. Place the cauli-
fl ower upright on the cutting
board and cut in quarters to
form wedges. Place the wedges
in a large microwave-safe
bowl and season with salt. Add
enough water to come 1/2 inch
up the sides of the bowl. Cover
with plastic wrap and poke a
hole in the top. Microwave until
it starts to turn translucent and
a paring knife slides through
with some resistance, 3 to 5
minutes. Uncover and drain the
water from the bowl.
3. Drizzle the oil over the cau-
Genevieve Ko/Los Angeles Times/TNS lifl ower, rubbing it on to evenly
Grilled caulifl ower caramelizes on the outside and develops a chewy juiciness on the inside.
coat. Sprinkle all over with salt
and pepper. Place the wedges
salad, stir into fried rice or
dish or 2 as a main, with the cut side down on the hot grill
ing and becoming tough, I
verde, zhoug, hummus or
addition of sauces and top-
grate. Grill until grill marks
start by steaming them just
guacamole and a sprinkle of stuff into tacos.
pings. They’re especially good appear and the wedges release
until they lose their raw edge. fresh herbs, sliced chiles, or
with salsa verde, mole, zhoug, easily from the grate, 6 to 7
While you can use a stovetop nuts or seeds and you have a
hummus, or guacamole and a minutes. Flip to the other cut
steamer, I prefer to “steam”
main dish. Dried fruit, such
sprinkle of fresh herbs, sliced side and grill until tender inside,
them in the microwave on hot as dates or raisins, comple-
5 to 7 minutes. A paring knife
chiles, or nuts or seeds. You
days and when I’m in a rush. ments those savory elements,
should slide through easily. You
can add dried fruit, such as
A shower of olive oil and
as does a fi nal burst of acidity Time: 30 minutes
can char the fl oret side too for a
dates
or
raisins,
and
a
squeeze
salt infuses the grilled cau-
with a squeeze of lemon or
Yields: Serves 2 to 4
few minutes. Transfer to a serv-
of lemon or lime juice.
lifl ower with enough fl avor
lime juice. Chop up any
These hearty caulifl ower
ing platter and serve hot, warm
to serve it unadorned as a
leftover grilled caulifl ower to
wedges can serve 4 as a side 1 whole caulifl ower
or room temperature.
side dish. Add a pool of salsa scatter over a grain bowl or
GRILLED
CAULIFLOWER
WEDGES
KERNEL
the cobs in water and simmer them
for an hour-ish to extract the fl avor.
Continued from Page 2B
For deeper fl avor, add aromatics like
After each cut, rotate the cob
onion, carrot and celery, and herbs
toward you and repeat until you’ve like parsley, thyme and bay leaf. Use
gone all the way around. Flip the
this as a base for soups or sauces, or
corn over and repeat.
just season it with salt and drink it
2. If you want to be really cool,
warm like the psychopath you are.
do this: Use the back of the knife to
Or, make corn chowder: Crisp
scrape down the newly naked cob.
some bacon lardons and set them
This squeezes out any remaining
aside, then sweat diced aromat-
pulp and liquid — some wags call
ics in the bacon fat. Add your corn
this the “corn milk.” Add it to what- and corn stock (or water or chicken
ever you’re making with the corn.
stock) to cover. Simmer until the
Now, let’s use that corn. Here are corn is tender, then pulse it in a
three good, general suggestions, all blender to make it smooth-ish and
with the added bonus of being good thick-ish. Season it with salt, fi nish
band names:
it with cream and garnish with the
• Raw. Super sweet corn — it’s
reserved bacon. Yum.
everywhere this time of year —
• The Hot Pan Progression. This
you don’t even need to cook. Use it
concept leads to a splortillion varia-
raw in salads or salsas or sprinkle
tions. In ascending order of complex-
it along with crumbled bacon on
ity:
vanilla ice cream.
1. Fatless char: Get your skillet
• Soup and Other Liquids. No, I’m hot — cast iron works especially
not talking about corn squeezin’s,
well for this — then toss in fresh
Li’l Abner. (For you youngsters
corn kernels with no fat. Stir while
out there, “corn-squeezin’s” means
it cooks for about 5 minutes, until
liquor, and Li’l Abner was a popular the corn is tender and has attrac-
comic strip created by Al Capp in
tive little black, burned spots on the
1934, based on offensive stereotypes outside. Toss it with butter or not, or
of that group of Americans known
use it in salads or salsas or corn-
insultingly as “hillbillies.”)
bread or just shove a handful into
First off, there’s corn stock. It’s
your pocket for later.
like meat stock, without the gore.
2. Sauteed: Get a saute pan hot,
After removing the kernels, cover
then add some fat of your choice. If
it’s oil, use just enough to coat the
bottom of the pan. With butter, I add
more because it coats the kernels
with that sweet, buttery fl avor.
With bacon fat, I split the difference.
Regardless, saute the corn until it’s
cooked through, anywhere from
2 to 6 minutes, depending on how
hot your fl ame is, what kind of pan
you’re using and how much corn
there is.
3. Added aromatics. Saute diced
onion and/or bell pepper and/or
garlic for a couple of minutes before
adding the corn. Continue cooking,
stirring until corn is cooked through.
Season and serve.
4. Creamed corn and its cousins.
My mother used to open cans of
“creamed corn” and bake it in a cas-
serole topped with slices of Velveeta
until it was golden brown and
bubbly. My father loved it. I ranked
it just above canned, cubed beets in
heavy syrup, and just below stab-
bing myself in the eye with a fork. I
have since learned to love creamed
corn, and here are a couple of the
many ways to make it:
Proceed as in numbers 2 or 3
above, sauteing your corn with or
without aromatics. For something
like maque choux (see accompany-
ing recipe), just add heavy cream
(the late, great New Orleans chef
Paul Prudhomme used sweetened,
NICE GUYS
Continued from Page 1B
Submitted photo
Bob Baum, left, with NFL star Larry Fitzgerald.
Now I’m no hockey expert
but I did cover a few dozen
games over the years, even a
couple of Western Conference
fi nals contests.
Every time I did show up,
Doan would remember me
and ask why I wasn’t there
more often. Collectively, NHL
players were the easiest ath-
letes to talk to of any sport.
In basketball, it’s hard to top
Magic Johnson, who enjoyed
the press and was a great talk-
er in his days as a player. They
tell me Charles Barkley was
one of the best with reporters,
which is not surprising.
Sadly, I only covered him a
few times. By the time I trans-
ferred to Phoenix, he was gone
from the Suns.
One day I was in the
Cardinals locker room when
Fitzgerald approached.
condensed milk) and reduce it until
it thickens.
Or you could sprinkle a couple of
tablespoons of fl our over the whole
lot, then stir it in until it looks like
a big, gloppy nightmare, then add
milk or half-and-half or cream,
depending on your feelings about
arteriosclerosis.
Personally, I prefer chicken stock,
then fi nish it with a bit of cream. It’s
still rich, but not nearly as heavy.
MAQUE CHOUX WITH
OR WITHOUT BACON
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes
Makes: 6 servings
This popular side dish from
the cuisine of Louisiana has as
many interpretations as there are
cooks. Bacon adds great fl avor and
texture, but it’s just as nice when
it’s completely vegetarian. Adjust
the amount of spices and cream to
your liking. You can also turn it into
a main dish to serve over rice with
additional proteins like shrimp or
andouille sausage.
1/2 pound bacon, cut into lardons
(1/4-inch wide pieces) or 2
tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice
“You doin’ all right?’’ he
asked, adding “Everything OK
at home?’’
You see, my shirt was on
inside out.
Or there was the time he
looked up a story I wrote about
him, read it and said. “Bob,
why you have mention how
much money I make.’’
Cardinals Hall of Fame
quarterback Kurt Warner
would have long, expansive an-
swers to every question. I told
him there was one question I’d
never ask: “Can you elaborate
on that?”
Thinking of others from
farther back in my history,
Maurice Lucas was so good to
me when I was a novice sports
writer in the Trail Blazers’
1977 championship season.
Clyde Drexler and Terry
Porter were great to deal with
on the Blazers’ team that twice
made it to the NBA Finals.
Years later, Porter called me
1 bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch dice
6 to 8 ears fresh corn,
shucked, kernels cut off
1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt as needed
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 cup heavy cream
1. If using bacon, crisp it in a heavy-
bottomed skillet over medium heat.
Remove bacon and pour out all but
a couple of tablespoons of bacon fat.
(Note: Keep remaining bacon fat in a
covered jar in the refrigerator for later
use.)
2. Increase heat to medium high;
saute onion and bell pepper in bacon
fat (or oil, if you’re not using bacon)
until soft and starting to color, about
5 minutes.
3. Add corn kernels, garlic and
reserved, crisped bacon; saute until
cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Season with salt and the spices,
then add cream and simmer to
reduce and thicken, about 10 minutes.
Serve immediately.
Nutrition information per serving: 212
calories, 14 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 23
mg cholesterol, 22 g carbohydrates,
7 g sugar, 5 g protein, 7 mg sodium,
3 g fi ber
early one morning to tell me
he had been fi red as Suns
coach. Now that’s a nice guy.
Randy Johnson went to
visit a child who was sick at
Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
But the girl’s father had in-
vited his whole offi ce there.
It’s the kind of scene that
Johnson hates, so he made
a quick visit and left. He hid
alone in a hospital rest room
while all the people left her
room, then returned and spent
a half-hour or more with just
the child and her mother
there.
There was the time Fitzger-
ald was dealing with a minor
knee injury.
I asked if it bothered him.
“I can still beat you in a
race,’’ he said.
He proceeded to say we
could bet one week’s salary on
a race.
“But you can afford to lose,’’
I said. “I can’t.’’
“But think of the upside
Bob,’’ he said.
Once, speaking to the entire
Cardinals press corps, he
wished me a happy birthday.
“Bob’s a real dinosaur in the
business,’’ Fitzgerald said.
Yes Fitz, I was.
Bob Baum retired last year after
43 years with The Associated
Press, 23 in Portland and the last
20 as a senior sports writer based
in Phoenix, Arizona. He and his
wife Leah live in Island City with
four cats and two dogs.
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