4 Pears

Well I really have no great excuses for my recent lack of posting....All I can say is chasing after two toddlers is hard work and I've been lazy!  How about some random pictures of those cute toddlers?

Mommy and Daddy just bought us a jungle gym but we prefer this old lawn chair!

I want to do better though, I enjoy sharing our cooking adventures and I hope you find the recipes helpful/interesting/fun too.

With the Christmas/New Year holidays coming up I'm sure you are doing some holiday cooking or entertaining so hopefully you'll find some cool new recipe ideas here!  Personally, I'm always looking for new vegetable side dishes, so that's what I have today.

I think cauliflower is really under-rated as a vegetable.  It is mild flavored so most people will love it even if they haven't eaten it in twenty years.  It is another good substitute for mashed potatoes;  you could roast it or make a gratin like this one.  This gratin is another Bobby Flay recipe and it is so delicious.  I love love the goat cheese in it.  I hope you like it too!

Cauliflower and Goat Cheese Gratin, adapted from Bobby Flay's Bar Americain cookbook
3 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons butter, more to butter baking dish
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, grated (1 1/2 cups)
6 ounces fresh goat cheese, cut into pieces
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
1 medium head of cauliflower, cut into bite-sized florets

Bring the milk to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.  Once it is close to simmering, melt the butter in a larger saucepan. Whisk in the flour into the melted butter and cook for about 1 minute, whisking constantly.  Slowly whisk in the hot milk and continue whisking until the mixture thickens, that could take between 3 and 10 minutes, depending on how hot your milk was.  Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the Monterey Jack cheese along with half the goat and Parmesan cheeses.  Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Delicious right?  And it isn't even done. ;)

Mix the sauce and the cauliflower together in a large bowl then pour it all into a buttered baking dish.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top along with some freshly grated pepper.

Bake for 50-60 minutes in a 350 F oven.  Let this cool and set up for about 10 minutes before you serve it.