Modern Gingham

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Friday, April 10, 2015

Passover 2015-Or how cooking for 12 people makes photographing for a blog post impossible

On Saturday, April 4, I hosted the second night of Passover.  I am not going to go in too much detail about Passover the holiday, but I will say that it is a holiday of 8 days, and the first two and last two nights are traditionally where the celebrants recount the store of Passover.
Okay, so Passover 2015 Night 2, 12 people including myself were to be fed.  And as mentioned on a previous blog post, I make a vegetarian meal for Passover.  And I had these lofty goals of photographing all the food I made.  All the revelry that was had, and all the food we ingested.  However, I forgot two key things...that cooking for 12 people takes longer than one expects, and photography isn't my strong suit. So I wish I had more photos to share, but I don't.  But I do have a recipe that was A-MAY-ZING.  If I do say so myself. 
Roasted Cauliflower with Pine Nuts and Raisins
6 lbs of cauliflower, in flowrets
6 oz pine nuts
4 oz raisins soaked for 20 min in boiling water to soften
garlic confit (see note below)
salt and pepper (to taste)
Note:  To make garlic confit, you need time.  Take cloves of garlic, cover with olive or grape seed oil.  I like olive oil, the pretty good stuff, personally.  Place the submerged garlic in a pan on medium-low heat.  You want to see bubbles slowly rising to the top, no boiling or frying.  Not even simmering.  Cook for about 2 hours.  Place confit in a glass mason jar or a bowl and cover.  I keep it for 2 weeks.  No longer.  It must be kept refrigerated.  No joke.  It is not a seal-able product in a canner. No pantry storage for it.
1.  Toast the pine nuts over medium heat, never taking your eyes off the pine nuts not even for a second.  You want them golden not black. You really don't want them black.Once golden, remove them immediately from the heat.  Place in a bowl and allow them time to cool.
2. Place the cauliflower in a roasting pan (I used 2 aluminium pans).  Strain soften raisins.  Discard liquid.  Add raisins and pine nuts to cauliflower.  If using 2 pans for roasting, evenly divide the pine nuts and raisins.  
3.  Add about 1/2 cup of garlic confit in oil to the roasting pans.  Toss to mix everything together.  Add salt and pepper to taste (use more salt than you think, IMHO, just because the sweet of raisins, the creaminess of cauliflower and the salt go so well together).  Roast at 400 F for 60 minutes, covered with foil.