Cauliflower & Cheddar Galettes with Chipotle Crème Fraîche

Fusion cooking can be seriously awesome or devastatingly awful. We've all been there at one point or another. Happily, author Ellise Pierce strikes a playful balance between the wild-wild west of her upbringing and the sophisticated chic of her adulthood hometown in Cowgirl Chef: Texas Cooking with a French Accent.  

I acquired this book during my recent time in the Lone Star State, which offers plenty of inventive recipes include Pistachio-Crusted Lamb Chops with Cowgirl Chimichurri, Stuffed Zucchini (Courgettes Farcies), and cornbread madeleines, with classics from both sides of the Atlantic tossed in for good measure.

As promised, these galettes were perfecto with the Caramelized Chipotle Chicken, given we're in the midst of winter's icy grip and hungry for food that's a little more "stick to your ribs." These little French pancakes warmed up beautifully the following day -- good news since we got well over a dozen galettes out of this recipe.  


CAULIFLOWER & CHEDDAR GALETTES
Makes about 12 galettes

Ingredients:

1 medium head of cauliflower, cut into florets
EVOO
sea salt (or Kosher salt) and pepper
1 c. cornmeal
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. sea salt (or, again, Kosher)
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. cumin
2 eggs, room temperature
1 5-ounce container of Greek yogurt
1 c. water (or stock)
4 green onions, thinly sliced, white and green parts of stalk
1 c. grated cheddar cheese (white cheddar will be more mild than it's sharper yellow cousin)
4 TBS. vegetable oil
Chipotle Crème Fraîche (recipe follows)


Directions: 

Preheat your broiler and line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment. Position the rack in the middle of the oven. 

Toss the cauliflower florets in a large bowl with a hearty drizzle of EVOO, salt and pepper. Lay evenly across the lined cookie sheet, and pop into the oven. The florets will begin to brown in about 10 minutes. When they do, remove from oven and turn each floret over so the other side gets its fair chance to get toasty, too. Roast for another 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to cool. 

Once cool, separate the florets further. (Don't over think this. You're looking to have pieces the size of a very large dice. You'll like the big bits of cauliflower in the galettes, but they need to be a manageable size for the cooking process). 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, baking powder, salt, cayenne and cumin. 

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt and water (or stock). Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and gently stir to combine. 

Gently fold in the cauliflower florets, grated cheddar, and green onions, reserving a TBS. or two of the green onions for garnish. 

Heat 2 TBS. of the oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-low heat. When it's hot, spoon about 2 TBS. of batter into the pan/galette, being sure not to crowd the pan. Cook the galettes for 3 or so minutes, until the bottoms are just brown, then flip and repeat. Be sure they're not cooking too fast, as a thick batter increases the odds of them being under cooked in the middle. 

Serve these immediately with a dollop of chipotle crème fraîche, garnished with chopped green onions (and/or fresh avocado, should you happen to have one sitting on your counter). 


CHIPOTLE CRÈME FRAÎCHE
Makes 1 cup

Ingredients: 

8 ounces crème fraîche (NOTE: I don't love crème fraîche, so I substitute sour cream or Greek yogurt every time to happy effect).
1 - 2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, or more to taste


Directions: 

Toss the chipotles (plus some of their adobo sauce for added heat) into a food processor, or mince by hand.

Fold chiles and crème fraîche/sour cream/yogurt together in a small bowl. Add adobo sauce to taste. Viola! 

Caramelized Chipotle Chicken

We've been hovering in the negative digits since the end of last month (as a noteworthy aside, -48 is the lowest wind chill factor I've seen so far), so as one might imagine, "hearty-satisfying-warm" is the name of the game when you find yourself in Minnesota. In January.

Guinness stew, shrimp creole, chicken & dumplings, short ribs paired with a gnocchi & Gorgonzola Dolce gratin, and margaritas (because a girl can dream...) have all made an appearance in the New Year. Even better? These wonderful humans bravely made an appearance earlier this month, too. :)

Leenie, my favorite middle sister, noshing at Tilia in St. Paul.
Also known as the (super sweet, slightly crunchy) Hudson Valley vegetable gal.

Ry, flexing his gnocchi muscles on New Years Eve.

Kelli!! We met on a flight over the Atlantic, both Rome-bound. The rest is history. :)

Authentic Minnesota hockey. Speaking of (when in) Rome... Go Ice Hawks!

Also, there was shopping. Tis the season.
(Mall of America's got nothin' on Houston's Galleria, for whatever it's worth).

Best of all, there was a lot of very good food.

Where was I? Ah. This particular chicken dish brings the heat. Which, conveniently, is what we've been desperate for since... October, I suppose. It paired beautifully with cauliflower & cheddar galettes. I think you'll enjoy.

CARAMELIZED CHIPOTLE CHICKEN
Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 TBS. EVOO
6 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 c. ketchup
1 (heaping) TBS. Dijon mustard
1 TBS. packed (dark, if you have it) brown sugar
1/8 - 1/4 c. chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo, depending on how much heat you can handle
1 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 TBS. cider vinegar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cumin
3 1/2 lbs. chicken, cut into 8 pieces (NOTE: I can almost always find a whole chicken already butchered at the grocery. They'll sometimes have an extra leg and/or thigh included -- there's enough marinade here to go around, so go for what's easiest for you).

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450, with rack in the middle.

Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Cook garlic, stirring constantly, until golden. Transfer sliced garlic with a slotted spoon to a small plate.

Reduce heat to medium and cook the onions in the remaining oil, stirring occasionally until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Don't worry about any brown bits on the bottom of the pan -- that's flavor!

Add the garlic and remaining ingredients to the skillet, except the chicken, plus 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Simmer, stirring occasionally (be watchful -- no burning, please), until sauce has thickened -- 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

Put chicken pieces in a large bowl. Add half the sauce and coat pieces thoroughly. Place coated chicken skin-side up on an 17-by-11 inch heavy 4-sided sheet pan and bake for 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and coat the pieces with the remaining sauce, then continue roasting until the chicken is cooked through (registers 165 on a digital read thermometer), another 15 to 25 minutes.

This chicken would be rockin' with grilled corn, rice and guac in the summer, but was terrific with Cauliflower and Cheddar Galettes (next post, I promise).


Recipe by Paul Grimes; Published in Gourmet Magazine, 2009.