(Editor’s note: “Hooked on Chopped” is a column written by lifestyle reporter Heather Shelton, a self-proclaimed novice cook who just happens to be obsessed with the Food Network show “Chopped.”)
By Heather Shelton
hshelton@times-standard.com
It’s been two months since my last “Chopped” challenge and, in that time, I have started watching a few more shows on the Food Network, including “The Pioneer Woman,” featuring former city girl turned ranch wife Ree Drummond. Boy, am I glad I began watching that show a few weeks ago, as it came in handy when I was recently given four mystery ingredients — cauliflower, almond meal, pepitas and Chinese five-spice powder — by my editor and asked to transform them into a visually appealing and palate-pleasing appetizer using only those items as well as anything I might have in my usually sparse kitchen.
I was presented with my first culinary conundrum right off the bat. I did not know what a pepita was and had never heard of Chinese five-spice powder. Since part of the “Chopped” challenge is to not looking on the Internet to answer my food questions or come up with recipe ideas, I went to a local grocery store and asked a clerk to help me find these two mystery-to-me ingredients.
Pepitas, I learned, are basically shelled pumpkin seeds. I chose the salted and roasted variety for the challenge. Chinese five-spice powder is an aromatic blend of cinnamon, fennel, cloves, star anise and white pepper. Almond meal — much pricier than regular flour — is made from all-natural blanched almonds. Cauliflower is a versatile veggie that’s in the same family as broccoli and Brussels sprouts.
I came up with an idea of what to do with these four food items while I was standing in the grocery store line. I remembered Drummond had baked small sweet tarts on her show last week, demonstrating in detail how she made the simple crust and fruity filling. I could make a good crust, I figured, out of the almond meal, some butter and the Chinese five-spice powder. I was concerned that the sweet-smelling five-spice blend might add too much of a dessert flavor to the crust, but decided to give it a try, figuring the salted butter would balance everything out.
Since I don’t have many gadgets on hand in my kitchen, I had to get creative to make the tart shell. Drummond used two knives to “cut” her butter into the flour, but also said you could use a pastry cutter. I had trouble using the knives in this fashion and don’t own a pastry cutter, so I opted to work the butter into the almond meal with my hands. It seemed to do the trick and within a few minutes, I had dough!
My next puzzle was what to put the dough in. I don’t have small (or any size) tart pans on hand and didn’t want to use muffin tins as I figured they would be too deep to make a tart. Instead, I chose to make a tart “pan” out of aluminum foil, creating a circle with the foil and folding up the edges to make a deep enough vessel to hold the crust and filling. I briefly pre-baked the crust while I went to work on the filling.
Instead of making a sweet berry filling like Drummond had made on her show, I figured I could create a savory topping for the tart crust using boiled, then blended, cauliflower. I’d have to add something to enhance the flavor since cauliflower is pretty bland, so I looked in the fridge to see what I had on hand. No one said this dish had to be low in calories, so I grabbed some sour cream and half-and-half and added the two dairy products into the pureed cauliflower. I tasted the mixture and it was still mild, so I added some salt and pepper and then Cheddar cheese to add a little zing.
Next, I poured the blended concoction into the lightly-baked tart shells. To finish the dish, I crushed the pumpkin seeds by putting them in a plastic bag and smashing them to bits with a hammer (hey, it’s all I had!) and then sprinkled them liberally on top of the cauliflower topping before putting the whole thing in the oven to bake a while longer.
All in all, the appetizer turned out well. In hindsight, I would have added some sliced bacon or smoked turkey to the cauliflower mix to add a bolder taste to the filling. The crust turned out surprisingly well and I think would work for either savory or sweet tarts. I’d probably use fewer pepitas on top next time, because it bordered on too salty with some bites.
Here’s my recipe for Cauliflower Tarts. I hope you enjoy it. Have some fun with it — add different kinds of cheeses, maybe blend in some other veggies to add a bit of color and don’t forget that bacon!
Cauliflower Tarts
Filling INGREDIENTS:
One medium cauliflower
1/3 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
CRUST INGREDIENTS:
2 cups almond meal
1 stick of butter
3 teaspoons Chinese five-spice
1/2 cup pepitas
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Put almond meal in a medium-size bowl and add butter. Mix the two ingredients together. I used my hands to “cut” the butter into the almond meal, but you could also try using two knives to do this or a pastry cutter. Add Chinese five-spice powder to the dough and mix it in well.
Take tangerine-sized balls of the dough and shape them to fit into lightly oiled tart pans or oiled foil circles (as described above). Place on a cookie sheet. Bake in a pre-heated oven for about 10 minutes, until the crust is slightly firm.
To make the filling, cut cauliflower into small chunks and put in boiling water. Boil cauliflower until a fork goes through it with no problem. Strain water from the pot and let the cauliflower cool. Once cooled, put the cauliflower into a blender and add half-and-half, sour cream, cheese and spices. Blend to a smooth consistency. Spoon the cauliflower mixture into the tart crusts until filled, but not spilling over the sides.
Crush the pepitas and sprinkle a few teaspoons of the ground seeds onto the top of each tart.
Put the tarts back in the oven and cook for another 45 minutes, or until the top of the cauliflower mixture is starting to get light brown.
I was able to make six tarts from the ingredients listed above. You could serve these tarts right out of the oven, though I found they were even tastier the next day served cold from the fridge.
Enjoy!
Heather Shelton can be reached at 441-0516.
