Roasted Chimichurri Cauliflower

Arg! Why is doing taxes so totally horrible? I don't own a house, or have any loans, and I'm not married.  I seriously have the easiest taxes to file, ever. So, I sat down today to do my taxes, thinking it would a breeze. Three hours and 4 meltdowns later (by meltdowns, I mean crying, yelling, stomping—we're pretty much talking full on toddler temper tantrums here), I finally got them filed. After that fiasco, I was exhausted, and insanely grumpy. Incredible-Hulk style grumpy. Biscuit was nervously meowing and pacing in circles around me, and Evan had locked himself in the bedroom to avoid my wrath.  Note to self for next year: remember, doing taxes isn't easy. Plan on that.

But you know what is easy? Roasted chimichurri cauliflower. 

Remember that chimichurri you tossed with leftover chicken for a budget-friendly dinner? Well, now you can use the leftover chimichurri to brighten up roasted cauliflower! Seriously, you WANT to do this. Even after tax-filing-from-hell, you'll have enough energy for this one. And it's just zingy enough, that it might put a little pep back in your post-tax step. After roasting, the lemon and garlic get all tangy, and the red pepper flakes take on some extra heat for a little kick at the end of each bite. And, since you made the sauce* already, this dinner takes about 4 minutes to put together—or as long as it takes you to break down a head of cauliflower. While it's roasting, you can sit back and relax. Have a glass of wine… or an old fashioned. No judgement here. After my day, I'm going real old-fashioned—skipping the extras, and just going straight for the whiskey. Plan on THAT. 

Roasted Chimichurri Cauliflower

1/2 recipe of chimichurri

1 head cauliflower, rinsed and separated into florets
S&P

Grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 400. Drain a little bit of the excess liquid off of the chimichurri, and toss the rest of the sauce with cauliflower. Salt and pepper to taste. Arrange on a sheet pan or roasting dish, and roast for 25-30 minutes, or until slightly browned and just getting crispy on the edges. Remove from oven and sprinkle with parm. 

*Every time I write, say, or hear the word sauce, I think/say to myself "that sauce is BOSS." I also have a really strong desire to end every one of my posts with "I HEARD that!" 


Is that weird?

Chimichurri Chicken Salad

The other day on the bus I heard another rider talking about how expensive it is to cook at home. How much more expensive it is than eating out. Maybe that girl eats at way cheaper restaurants than I do, or maybe she just doesn't understand how to make her dollar stretch in the kitchen. I mean, don't get me wrong, home cooking isn't always cheap. Especially if you like to use quality ingredients and lots of produce. It adds up. But, that's why you gotta make it stretch. And, once you get more comfortable in the kitchen, and start building up a pantry, it's even easier to cook homemade meals for less. 

I'm always looking for ways to make my groceries go further, and to waste less. Coming up with interesting leftover-revivals is a good place to start. You can mix this tasty chimichurri with leftover roast chicken and serve a ton of different ways. And, you should end up with leftover chimichurri, which can be used in a million other ways, in a million other recipes. 

Chicken Chimichurri Salad

Chimichurri adapted from Epicurious

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 small shallot, minced

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

3/4 cup chopped parsley

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

flakey sea salt

1 cup cooked chicken, chopped

1/2 English cucumber, cubed

For chimichurri, whisk together olive oil through cilantro, and salt to taste. Let mixture sit for about 20 minutes, for flavors to meld. Combine chicken, cucumbers, and about half of the chimichurri. Add more salt or chimichurri if needed. Serve on crusty grilled french bread, in a wrap, on a pita with hummus and feta, or even in an endive leaf. Or just eat it, because you'll want to. Store remaining chimichurii in a jar in the fridge for up to a week. 

Sunday Part 2: Spontaneous Brazilian

...After making tacos (and ice cream) for the moving crew, Amanda and I kicked around town for awhile, and headed back to her house to make salads and watch Sex and the City. Lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber, zucchini, and broccoli in the bowl, Amanda went out to the balcony to put the chicken on the grill. Sterling, a neighbor from a few doors down, came around the corner just in time to hear Amanda turn on the propane, and invited us over to sample some empanadas. We figured we'd just head over and have a quick taste, and come back to check on the grill. Little did we know, we were in for a spur-of-the-moment Brazilian feast.

As we entered Sterling's home (after accidentally knocking on the wrong door), we were greeted with glasses of champagne, and warm welcomes from Sterling's girlfriend Laurie, roommate Leslie, and a big group of their friends (who all happened to work at Greenlake Bar & Grill). Sterling loves to cook, try new recipes, and entertain, and was thrilled to have a random group of friends and neighbors over for his newest culinary endeavor: Brazilian. Their new roommate Leslie had spent some time living in Brazil, and had recently treated them to dinner at a local Brazilian restaurant. Obsessed with the delicious new flavors, Sterling was on a mission to recreate and perfect Brazilian cuisine. The menu: empanadas, collard greens, grilled chorizo with chimichurri, and my favorite part... a Brazilian condiment called farofa. Seeing the feast at hand, smelling the delicious aromas, and being handed glass after glass of champagne and wine, we decided it was time to turn off our grill, and settle in for a night of laughs and great eats with new friends.

Sterling took charge in the kitchen, and it was obvious that he had a passion for food and a zest for cooking. He was almost giddy with the excitement of the meal, and sharing his talents in the kitchen with new people. Laurie was the ultimate sous chef. To make the empanadas, she stuffed little rounds of dough with a mixture of top sirloin, raisins, and other tasty odds and ends that Sterling had mixed up. Once filled, the edges were crimped and the empanadas were brushed with egg wash and put in the oven to bake up to golden perfection. They were crispy on the outside, and full of flavor on the inside. Absolutely delicious.

The chorizo sausages were sliced lengthwise, doused in Sterlings homemade chimichurri, and thrown on the grill. Chimichurri is a basically a Latin pesto, a mix of garlic, oil, parsley, peppers, and other delicious ingredients, used as a marinade for the meat and condiment for the empanadas. Sterling's was full of fresh flavor, and he explained that in Brazil they said that meat marinated in chimichurri tasted as if it was 'pulled through the garden' with all of it's fresh garden flavor. The sausage was spicy and tasted amazing with an extra splash of chimichurri.

Sterling explained that Brazilian cuisine uses similar ingredients as Southern American cuisine (because of a similar history with the slave trade), but they use different methods of preparation. Case in point: collard greens. Well versed in southern cooking, Sterling said that he was used to cooking down the whole leaves until they were wilted and less bitter, but in Brazil, the common preparation involved removing the thick stems, slicing the greens into thin ribbons, and giving them a quick saute with garlic. After tasting his Brazilian greens, I'll take his word for it! Slightly crisp and chewy at the same time, the greens were like nothing I had tried before.

And finally, the bell of the ball... farofa. Farofa is a buttery, bacony flour mixture, made with manoic flour, which is often sprinkled over food, or eaten on it's own. I think I'm in love. I had never seen, heard of, or tasted anything remotely similar to farofa. We spooned it onto our greens, sausage, and empanadas, and then ate it straight from the bowl with spoons. Smokey, buttery, and amazing, I can't believe I lived so long without farofa in my life!

After too many glasses of wine and champagne, three helpings of dinner, tons of laughs, a shared love of food, and several hours, we took our to-go bags of tasty Brazilian treats, hugged our new friends goodbye, and stumbled out the door. By this point it was well past 10 PM. We put our measly little salad and chicken in the fridge for another time, grateful for the amazing feast we spontaneously happened upon. With fantastic homemade farofa on my mind, I hope to be back to Sterling's kitchen soon, to see what else he's cookin' up!