Sunday, January 24, 2010

Spicy Roasted Cauliflower and Salmon

Martha Stewart scares me. A domestic diva I am not: I "clean" by sweeping things under the bed and in the closet, and "cook" by dumping ingredients in a pot. I do not care about thread-count, I can't craft a darn thing, and all of my drawers are lazily unorganized. But the woman (well, her team) can concoct a mean dinner.

Last week I left a recipe on the counter and a few ingredients in the fridge and instructed Matt to do the rest. I returned home to this: spicy roasted cauliflower and salmon. It was divine. It really was, and even Matt said we're adding this to our regular rotation (so thank you Martha).

A note: The recipe - in it's original, published form - is below. However, we had a VERY large head of cauliflower (it's priced per head and not per pound, so OF COURSE I'm gonna rummage for the biggest one available!) and doubled the anchovies/garlic and thought it was superb. Also, don't be scared of the anchovies! They added a delicious complexity of flavor to the dish, and were not fishy.

One last thing: Take "spicy" with a grain of salt. I do not eat anything very spicy (as in hot) due to my IC/Crohn's - the red pepper flakes just gave it a bit of a kick.

Spicy Roasted Cauliflower and Salmon

Serves 4; courtesy of Martha Stewart

  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 2 to 4 anchovy fillets (optional)
  • 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
  • Coarse salt and ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons anchovy oil (from can of anchovies) or olive oil
  • 1 head cauliflower (about 2 pounds), cored and cut into large florets
  • 4 skinless salmon fillets (6 to 8 ounces each)
  • 4 thin lemon slices, halved, plus 4 wedges, for serving
  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Gather garlic, anchovies (if using), and red-pepper flakes into a pile. Using a chefs knife, coarsely chop; season generously with salt. Using flat side of knife blade, mash mixture into a paste.
  2. Place paste into a large bowl; add oils, and mix to combine. Add cauliflower, and toss to coat. Spread mixture in a single layer on a large rimmed baking sheet. Roast until starting to soften, about 15 minutes.
  3. Season salmon with salt and pepper. Remove baking sheet from oven; push cauliflower to sides, and place fillets in the center. Arrange two half-slices of lemon on each fillet. Return to oven; bake until fish is opaque throughout, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.
We were both voraciously eating this, and fighting over the cauliflower. Who fights over cauliflower?!

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