Here's my simpler version.

Ingredients

• 1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
• 4 oz butter
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 teaspoon of ground black pepper

Method

1. Steam cauliflower until tender.
2. Put in bowl with other ingredients and puree with hand blender.

I'm recreating this from memory from the other day. I liked this. Slightly sweet, cauliflowery taste. Not a mock mashed potato recipe, but it's own thing.

My friend Jim recommend this recipe from paleogrubs. I like pork, but I rarely try new pork recipes. Jim, however, is an excellent cook. If he recommends something, it will not suck. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

• 4 (4-ounce) boneless pork chops
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• ½ tsp salt, divided
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 medium onion, peeled and cut into 8 wedges
• 2 medium apples, peeled, cored and cut into 8 wedges
• 4 ounces sliced bacon, cut into bite size pieces

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Pound the chops lightly with a meat mallet. Sprinkle the chops with half of salt and half of black pepper.
3. In a large cast iron pan heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over high heat. Add the pork to pan and cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove the pan from the heat and remove the pork from the pan.
4. In the pan add the remaining olive oil, apple and onion wedges and bacon. Sprinkle with thyme and remaining salt and black pepper and toss to coat. Put in the oven and bake for 25 minutes then arrange the pork chops over apples and onion and bake for 10 minutes more. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper and serve with your favorite salad.

2016-02-07: I wanted to try this recipe, but when I went to the store I found pork chops that were unaccountably thick; three were almost two pounds. What the hell. Let's give it a try. I pounded them in ziploc bags with a small cast-iron frying pan that shedded rusty cast iron with every fifth whack. I browned them. Double checked their done-ness. Seemed okay. I decided to change their baking time in the oven to 15 minutes. Also forgot the thyme. I should mention that the bacon was butcher-cut apple-wood smoked bacon, not that skinny crap they sell in packages. I used Granny Smith apples, though I suspect that pippins would be better.

As the apples/onions/bacon were baking, I nearly swooned from the aroma. This probably will not suck.

Results

This recipe is definitely a repeater. The pork was tender and good. The apples tasty. The onions were okay, but I suspect they would have been better if I had used Vidalia sweets instead of standard yellow onions.

Next time around I might consider shredding the apples and onions instead of just cutting into wedges. That might make them a nicer topping, instead of a side, to the chops.

Put them in the oven preheated to 400° for 40-60 minutes, depending on size.

Ingredients

• 1/2 head of cabbage
• 2 tbsp of butter
• 1 medium egg
• 1/2 tsp minced onion
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 2 more tbsp butter

I saw a recipe for cauliflower hashbrowns, which struck me as interesting, but I didn't have any cauliflower in the fridge, although I did have half a head of cabbage. Hm. How about cabbage hashbrowns?

It struck me that cabbage has a lot of extra water and air in it, which would probably need to be removed before combining with egg to make the patties. The first steps are to get rid of that extra moisture.

1. I removed the core of the cabbage half, then chopped it fine. I sliced the remaining cabbage into 1/4" - 1/2" slices. Poured the chopped core into a food processer and then processed each of the slices till all was chopped.
2. Then I put 2 tbsps of butter into a frying pan, and I fried the cabbage until it had barely started to brown.
3. Then I poured the cabbage into a colander to allow it to drain and cool. After all, we don't want the egg to cook instantly when it hits the cabbage.
4. After the cabbage had cooled, I combined it with the remaining ingredients. Divided it into two. I fried the first pattie in one tbsp of butter, and the second pattie in a second tbsp of butter.

Results: taste was fine. They fell apart pretty easily. I'm thinking I should try two eggs next time. If that works better, then I might also try not precooking the cabbage.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Cauliflower
• 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tbsp chopped Shallots
• 1/2 cup Bouillon Vegetable Broth
• 2 tbsps Heavy Cream
• 2 tbsps Parsley
• 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese (Grated)

Method

1. Pulse cauliflower florets in a food processor until they are the size of grains of rice.
2. In a skillet over medium heat cook shallots in the olive oil until tender.
3. Add cauliflower and toss to coat; add vegetable stock and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
4. Add cream, chopped parsley and cheese.
5. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

2016-01-02: Today I tried this recipe for the first time. I will make it again. It's probably a mistake to call it risotto because it lacks the super-creamy texture of good risotto. I had never actually had really good risotto until last week, eating at Edible Canada on Granville Island in Vancouver. My niece had ordered a risotto dish, and it was awesome.

I dislike the "2 cups of cauliflower" direction. How much is that? Hard to say. I guesstimated and then weighed the result, which was 8 3/8 ounces. It was probably a touch too much. Nonetheless, the recipe turned out well tastewise. And I used chicken stock. Who the hell wants vegetarian bouillon?

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
• 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 2 cups prepared marinara sauce
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1 (8 ounce) package shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 (5 ounce) package garlic croutons

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Coat the bottom of a 9x13 inch casserole dish with olive oil, and sprinkle with garlic and hot red pepper flakes.
3. Arrange the chicken breasts in bottom of the dish, and pour marinara sauce over chicken. Sprinkle basil over marinara sauce, and top with half the mozzarella cheese, followed by half the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle on the croutons, then top with the remaining mozzarella cheese and remaining Parmesan cheese.
4. Bake in preheated oven until cheese and croutons are golden brown and the chicken is no longer pink inside, about 35 minutes to an hour, depending on the shape and thickness of your chicken breasts. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a chicken breast should read at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

2015-12-31: I used a smaller baking dish and chicken thighs instead of breasts. Skipped the croutons since I'm avoiding carbs. I used traditional Prego for the sauce.

Turned out pretty good. Reheated well. Before I make it again, though, I should double check the carb count on the sauce.

Mirror

I came across a recipe for slow-cooker chicken tikka, which includes a reference to garam masala. But there are so many types of garam masala that the reference is almost useless. Fortunately, the recipe linked a specific garam masala (Frontier Seasoning Blends Garam Masala) that had this ingredient list:

From there I looked at my Indian cookbook (Classic 1000 Indian Recipes) and adapted its Garam Masala I recipe from p. 12. This is my take on it.

Guesstimated recipe and procedure

• 1/4 cup of black cardamom seeds
• 1/4 cup of cumin seeds
• 1/4 cup of cloves
• 1 oz of cinnamon sticks
• 1/4 cup of black peppercorns
• 1/4 cup of coriander seeds

Grind the ingredients together in a coffee grinder and grind to a fine powder.

I purchased this garam masala and tried it in a cabbage dish. Too much sweet spice, either anise or star anise. Skip it in the future.

Ingredients

• 1/2 medium-size head of cabbage, chopped
• olive oil for braising
• about 1/2 cup of water, optional
• 1/4 tsp salt, or more to taste
• 1/4 pepper, or more to taste
• juice of one medium-size lemon

>

1. Saute cabbage in olive oil over medium heat until soft.
2. If it is taking longer than you like, switch to high heat and add water. Cover the pan so it steams.
3. When soft, add salt and pepper. Add lemon juice and serve