Purple Cauliflower with Lentils & Mint

November 4, 2014 By Dena in Fall, Gluten-Free, Main Course, Vegetables, Vegetarian Tags: cauliflower, food photography, Gathering flavors, Lentils, purple cauliflower, red lentils, Sami Tamimi, Yotam Ottolenghi 2 Comments

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A friend asked me recently if I would consider selling the food I make rather than posting recipes  for free on Gathering Flavors. “You’re a professional. You deserve to get paid”, she said. While I appreciated the sentiment, the short answer to her question is no. I’ve worked in the food industry―as a professional cook in restaurants and gourmet shops, as a pastry chef, and in sales. Although it is what I trained for, I hated the work because it turned the process of cooking into factory work and food into a product. I have full and unwavering respect for folks who call professional cooking their careers, it just wasn’t for me. Foods that I cooked in large quantities over and over again became flavorless, in part because there was no emotional connection. I couldn’t see or talk with the people I was cooking for, couldn’t inject my personality into foods that would go out the kitchen door and into a great unknown world of diners and customers. Cooking is a creative process, and a deeply intimate one that connects me both to the elements of a meal and to the people who join me at my table. Whether I am eating dinner with my family or hosting friends, the process of connecting and sharing a meal together is what it is all about. I’ll earn my living in other ways and save the cooking for what I love most.

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This dish of Purple Cauliflower with Lentils and Fresh Mint was part of a meal I created for a friend who came to dinner at my home for the first time last week. It’s adapted from a fusion of recipes found in Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi. The process of roasting cauliflower after it’s tossed with saffron water brings out the vegetable’s natural sweetness and gives it a gorgeous color. It is then combined with a mixture of sweet and savory elements—slivered red onions, dried mango slices and black olives―to form a dish that is both beautiful and delicious. Accompanied by red lentils steeped in cinnamon and topped with feta cheese and fragrant, fresh mint, this dish has all the elements of what I love about food.

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I look forward to seeing you in my kitchen, gathering flavors, soon.

Dena

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Cinnamon Laced Pumpkin Bread

October 22, 2014 By Dena in Baked Item, Bread, Breakfast, Dessert, Fall, Includes Gluten-free Option, Vegetarian Tags: Cinnamon, food photography, Gathering flavors, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Bread 6 Comments

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I’m drawn to culinary blogs that are not just about the recipes. I started reading Poor Man’s Feast by Elissa Altman after I came across an essay Elissa wrote shortly after the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. She is a member of that community and wrote about how she felt hearing about the shootings over the radio. I learned about Made by You and I, by Steven Santos after he commented on this site. He had just started reading Gathering Flavors and wrote to tell me how much he liked my writings that intertwine food and family. I have since been deeply impressed with his writing about being an American living in Japan, about his complicated early life,  and by the street photography on his blog. He has a remarkable  ability to capture the story in someone’s face.  Sara Forte, of The Sprouted Kitchen, recently gave birth to her first child. She has a beautiful voice that tells tales of new motherhood in all its complexities. Her husband Hugh’s photos on the site capture the textures of food in a style that is uniquely his own. They are beautiful.

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Sometimes it’s the courage of these bloggers that gives me the courage to write from the heart. Last week I wrote about my sister’s death and the struggles to deal with dark emotions when I am with my mother. It’s a bit scary to put something like that out there, but I was overwhelmed by the love and support sent my way as a result. A friend from Chicago who I haven’t seen in years contacted me. A neighbor took the time to comment about it on my blog. Still another person stopped me at the gym not only to offer her condolences but to let me know she’d had a similar set of losses and frustrations in her life. My courage, she said,  gave her the courage to talk about it as well.

Thank you, all.

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This recipe for Pumpkin Bread Laced with Toasted Coconut, Nuts and Cinnamon is adapted from a recipe that appeared on The Sprouted Kitchen last week. A moist and rich dark orange batter is laced with a swirl of cinnamon, coconut flakes, pine nuts and maple syrup then topped with brown sugar before baking. The result is a pudding-like loaf. Best eaten warm, it is a perfect fall breakfast with some hot coffee and a plate of sliced apples and yogurt.

I look forward to seeing you in my kitchen, gathering flavors, soon.

Dena

P.S. A couple of other wonderful squash and pumpkin recipes from around the web recently include Grilled Butternut Squash Bruschetta on My Savory Spoon and Pumpkin Lassi on A Brown Table.

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