Roasted Cauliflower and Mushrooms

From Meg's Kitchen
This weekend we brought my mom to our place at the coast. I went down a day early and did some craft stuff with a good friend. After I cleaned up she and her husband joined the 3 of us for dinner. We had a simple but delicious dinner.
The hubs and mom had stopped on their way to the coast at Costco for a few items including a roasted chicken. I am in love with Costco roasted chicken. I have tried other store roasted chickens and they don't come close. Plus we make a number of meals from just one chicken (this might be a future blog).
But this blog is about a side dish that comes from Martha Stewart. Roasted cauliflower with mushrooms and cheese. The hubs asked for cauliflower with a cheese sauce - done that - boring. So I went hunting for a different twist on an old favorite. Following is my rendition of the Stewart recipe. I have to add that I had hoped to have enough left overs for the next days lunch but there was not a crumb left.

Roasted Cauliflower and Mushrooms 
side dish for 4 to 6 or main dish (with other offerings) for 3 to 4

1 large cauliflower
1/2 lb each shiitaki and crimini mushrooms (or a combination equaling to 1 lb - I balanced on the crimini mushrooms)
1/2 cup of oil (I used a light olive oil)
5 oz gruyere or fontina cheese, grated

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Slice the cauliflower in 1 inch slices and remove leaves and core. Brush both sides with oil and lay the slices in a rimmed baking sheet. Place sheet on top rack and bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove stems from the mushrooms. Quarter large shiitakis and slice the criminis 1/4 inch thick. Toss with oil and place in a baking pan. Add the pan of mushrooms to the bottom rack of the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

Turn cauliflower and mushrooms and bake for another 15 minutes. While veggies are baking, grate the cheese.

Mix the mushrooms and cauliflower in one of the pans. Sprinkle the cheese over the top and bake for about 5 minutes

Serve immediately.

Variations 
The original recipe included croutons but I didn't think that they were needed  I imagine that you could substitute broccoli or Brussel sprouts for the cauliflower.

Mary's Comments:  This sounds really good Meg. I am not surprised that you had no leftovers! Since I am lazy sometimes when I cook, I'd probably cook the cauliflower and mushrooms together in one pan, but agree that croutons are not needed.

Butternut squash, pumpkin and cauliflower soup

From Mary's Kitchen

We are having a lovely Spring here after a "winter" which was rather harsh for the Gulf Coast.  I say "winter" with tongue in cheek, as winter here often lasts about a week or two.  This year we had hard freezes, ice and some snow.  My hydrangeas, amaryllis and camellias were troopers and have survived.  Perhaps the recent cold weather turned my thoughts to soup. 

It was timely that I received a new cookbook as a gift - one of the Barefoot Contessa cookbooks.  Really lovely.  The butternut squash soup recipe beckoned, but as usual I had to tinker.  The original, as found in the cookbook and as posted on the Food Network, can be found here.

Here is my version:

1 1/2 large onion, chopped

1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks

1 15 oz can pumpkin puree

1/2 head cauliflower, cut into large florets

1 quart chicken broth, low salt

Toss the cauliflower florets with some olive oil and season with some hot curry powder.  Roast in a 400-degree oven until the florets take on some color.

Sautee the onion in a large soup pot with 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp olive oil until translucent.  Add the squash, the pumpkin puree, the roasted cauliflower and the chicken broth.  Add 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper.  Cook until the vegetables are quite soft.  Puree either in a blender (in batches) or with an immersion blender (great invention!!)  in the soup pot.  Add heavy cream or half and half to taste.  I only added about 2/3 cup.  Season with more salt if needed and more hot curry powder.

This is an EASY recipe with lots of bold flavors.  I didn't add any condiments, as i loved the unadorned flavor of the soup.  Meg (the other M of Two Cooks) and her husband were here visiting recently - unfortunately before the soup creation - but I think they would have liked this one.

Enjoy!!

Meg’s Comment 
Mary, this is like 3 soups in one! I will have to have a party so I can try it out. I can't see a way to reduce the recipe without leftover veggies or lots of leftover soup. Sorry we aren't there to help you eat it.
But the gumbo that you made was the best I had on our trip. You blogged the recipe awhile back.