A mother-daughter conversation on food and cooking (mostly)

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Fancy Food



This cauliflower soup came from Rocco Dispirito's Flavor, which I received for Christmas several years ago.  This is the second time I've made it, and both times I ended up a little disgruntled by how labor-intensive it is.  First, you make a basil simple syrup, which involves two saucepans and a blender; then, browning the pine nuts in oil--a small skillet; and finally cooking a whole head of cauliflower with a sweated onion--one saucepan and the blender, and finally another clean pot to reheat the soup.  And this is only a first-course soup, as it's very light.  I made focaccia with sage and walnuts to go with it, which made a balanced supper.

We ate it cold for lunch the next day, equally tasty.

Why am I whining about this?  Because I prefer to make simple things.  I've vowed to live without recipes for a while.  I already know how to cook!

On the positive side, there was leftover basil syrup, and I made this drink at Eva's suggestion:  gin, soda, a squeeze of lemon, and a teaspoon of the syrup.  Delicious!

2 comments:

Eva said...

I bet Will would like to know how you got your basil simple syrup so green. His is more yellow.

In any case, yum.

Kris said...

Actually the cooking part is easy--it's the dishwashing that's the problem. I'll post the basil syrup recipe.