Smokey Cauliflower or Romanesco “Sauce” for Fish

Another dish where vegetables pose as a sauce. Here, cauliflower or Romanesco are cooked down with mushrooms and Purplette onions to make a sweet and earthy topping for fish, poached chicken, or tofu. This would work fine as a pasta sauce as well.

INGREDIENTS:

METHOD:

Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. When hot, liberally film pan bottom with oil. When almost smoking, add the mushrooms and toss to coat. Add a pinch of salt. Cook until softened and fragrant.

Lower heat to medium and add the onions. Cook until they are “transparent”.

If the pan bottom is dry, add a little oil to film it, and then add the cauliflower. Toss to coat with oil and sauté just to color the outside a little.

Make a well in the center and add the garlic and oregano. Cook until fragrant, then toss to mix with the rest of the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper, scatter the Pimenton over all the ingredients, and toss to combine. Add the white wine and cook until reduce by 80%.

Make a space in the center and add the tomato paste. Stir with a wooden spoon, mixing with the last of the wine and into the vegetables.

Add the stock or water and simmer, stirring gently, until the liquid has reduced until almost gone and has thickened so it is no longer really runny.

Stir in the pistachios and use right away while hot.

Chef’s Notes:

Use this “sauce” to complement grilled or sautéed fish such as tilapia or thinner slices of sword or tuna. It would be nice on poached or grilled chicken breasts or on slabs of seared tofu or in a roasted or grilled Portobello mushroom.

Change the Pimenton to a curry powder and use cashews instead of pistachios for a more Indian inflected sauce. Hit it with cumin and coriander and it could be Mid-East or add pepitas and sesame seeds and think of the American South West. This “sauce” could also top pasta or be tossed with grains such as kamut or faro.

Serves: 4

Source: Chef Andrew E Cohen