So, I have to confess that I ordinarily don’t much care for cauliflower. Or, well, most vegetables, if I’m perfectly honest. Don’t judge – It’s a genetic thing. But I am VERY pro cheese, so a recipe that masks veggies with a creamy cheese sauce, it turns out, was sorely needed in our household lineup. I even went back in for seconds. It’s so good, in fact, that it’s taken me three tries to get a photo of it before it’s been gobbled down.
In Stardew Valley, this recipe is a pretty early one received in the mail from Pam. It’s almost universally liked by everyone in town, excepting Krobus and Willy. I won’t hold that against them, though. Try it yourself and see what you think!
Recipe for Cheese Cauli
Prep: 5 minutes Cooking: 20 minutes Makes: ~4 side servings
Ingredients:
- 1 cauliflower, divided into bite-sized pieces
- 1 Tbs. olive oil
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 4 oz. cream cheese
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- paprika and chives to garnish
Start by preheating the oven to 400F. Toss the cauliflower florets with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then spread out evenly on a baking sheet. Cook in the heated oven for around 20 minutes, flipping about halfway through, until soft.
While the cauliflower bakes, make up the cheese sauce: Combine the cream cheese and heavy cream in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until it’s a smooth consistency. Stir in the shredded cheddar until it has melted, then remove from heat.
When the cauliflower is done roasting, move it to a medium bowl and toss with the cheese sauce. Top with some paprika and chives, and enjoy!
Mrs. Rorer’s Philadelphia Cookbook is a treasure that long sat hidden on a bookshelf in my grandmother’s basement. Relegated to its decorative, rather than functional, role, the book idled until I eventually inherited it many ago. Even then, I chose it mostly for its look. However, as I would discover in the following years, it holds much to be appreciated.
Sarah Tyson, later Rorer, was born in 1849 in Pennsylvania. This is the first of her many cookbooks, which in the introduction she proudly puts it forth as a much needed culinary contribution from Philadelphia.
The cookbook itself is at once sparse and surprisingly thorough, delving occasionally into the downright scientific. In the section on soups, for example, she explains how the stewing meat breaks down, dropping terms such as osmazone and nitrogenous. For the very best soup, she recommends soft water and a porcelain or granite(ware) soup kettle. Not exactly standard kitchen fare!
There are a smattering of handwritten recipes throughout the book, the most appetizing, perhaps, being the Apple Custard Pie. Nomsch! Somewhat more dubious is the Pistachio Ice Cream, for which the green color is added by way of clover (or lawn grass, should you find your yard lacking in clover patches)! You can bet I’ll be making it anyway.
Check out some of the pictures of the interior, and try some of the fascinating recipes as I add them to the list!
Recipes:
- Apple Snow
- Apple Custard Pie
- Eggs for Breakfast
- Pistachio Ice Cream
- Mushroom Catsup
- Waffles with Sour Milk
There’s nothing like mom’s old standby recipes, regardless of whether it’s a biological mom or a chosen one. Sometimes, the simplest food is the best one, especially during long winters. When I was 17 I did a gap year in Turkey that changed my life, not least of all because it instilled in me a deep love of delicious food. Seriously, that is some of the best cuisine in the whole world!
This recipe started as my Turkish mom’s recipe for rice pudding, which I haven’t made in ages. I’ve tweaked it a little to my own tastes, lowering the sugar count and adding just a dash of orange extract, which pairs brilliantly with the dusting of cinnamon on top. I couldn’t decide whether I liked it better as a dessert or for a breakfast treat, but I like to think that even my Turkish mom would like it with a nice cup of tea. :)
Seni seviyorum, anne!
Rice Pudding Recipe
Ingredients:
- 4 1/2 cups milk
- 1/2-3/4 cup sugar, to taste
- 1/2 cup uncooked rice
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 Tbs. corn starch
- Dash each vanilla and orange extract
- ground cinnamon to serve
Combine 4 cups of milk and the sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Add the rice and cook for around 20 minutes or so, until the rice is soft. You may need to stir occasionally to make sure the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup milk, egg yolks, corn starch, vanilla, and orange extract. While whisking, pour a little of the hot milk from the pan into the bowl to temper the eggs. Pour the egg mixture back into the pot and cook for another couple of minutes, whisking or stirring to fully combine. The mixture should thicken considerably during this time. Pour everything into a heat-proof casserole dish (or smaller individual sized serving bowls). At this point, you can either serve warm or room temperature, or chill for later. You can also put the whole casserole into an oven preheated to 350F for around 20 minutes, until they are warmed through and the tops have browned.