Friends, join us on this Feed Your Fire podcast episode for a Thanksgiving potluck as we prepare a luscious cauliflower dish that sets the mood for a fun and fulfilling holiday meal.
Listen to the Feed Your Fire podcast episode on Apple and Spotify.
Episode Transcript:
Hello and welcome to Feed Your Fire. I'm Kim Baker, founder of Kim Baker Foods. Consider this your friendsgiving and everyone is invited. It's a potluck dinner, and I'm making roasted cauliflower au gratin, a modern twist on a holiday classic that pairs perfectly with just about any menu. So join us as we get cooking and reflect on the spirit of the holiday.
Thanksgiving is just over a week away, and if you're anything like me, you've been reading recipes and looking for inspiration about what to make this holiday. Our family's Thanksgiving menu has gone through different cycles. When I was younger, the meal always revolved around lasagna and other Italian foods.
And I remember when I got to college, kind of begging my parents for a more traditional meal—can't we just have some turkey and stuffing and not some antipasto with salami and Caponata? Ironically, what I would do for some of that antipasto today!
I remember as a young kid, helping in the kitchen, rolling up meats. They were always kind of in this spiral, and we would chop fresh mozzarella, and there would be artichokes, and it was this delightful platter. And by the time you ate that alone, you were already full, and the meal had yet to begin.
As life went on, and my family changed, I really shied away from tradition, moving into things that just felt new and different. A couple years ago, I remember making fresh fried chicken. I had my fryer, and we were frying real-time with these amazing chicken breasts coming right out of the oven. While the adults cooked, the kids popped in the hot tub. It was a blast.
While the meal has changed through these cycles in life, the spirit of the holiday has remained consistent. And for as long as I could remember, Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday. It's probably accentuated because my birthday falls on Thanksgiving some years, and every year, no matter whether it fell on that day or not, we would have a birthday cake for me on Thanksgiving. I'd be surrounded by all these people that loved me and that I loved and so that meal really catalyzed the sense of community and fulfillment. Isn't it amazing that a meal can create that kind of experience for us?
I was thinking back to my school age days and how in the classroom, we would celebrate the first Thanksgiving, and we would dress up, and there would be music, and you'd be really lucky if you were the one that got the triangle or really cool instrument to play. Yeah, the triangle is pretty awesome. And when you think back to that historical lesson. The holiday was actually not really about gratitude, the way we think of it today. It was really about peace and coming together, setting aside differences, and just being present in the moment. I think there's something there for us to get back to.
In many ways, gratitude is a means to an end. When we fill our hearts with gratitude, we ultimately find peace, we find grace, we find love. For the last 14 years of my life, there's been a reinvention of this holiday every year. I've shared the table at times with my sisters. I've shared the table with my family through different stages of grief, with friends, boyfriends, and their families who've welcomed me in. When I'm lucky, I have my son beside me, and at each one of those open tables, my cup was filled.
This year, I'm so grateful to be able to spend the holiday for the first time with Sean and his family, he and I actually made this recipe that I'm sharing with you today for a Friendsgiving that we just attended. So it's tried and tested, and I think you will approve.
So the first thing we're gonna do is roast the cauliflower. Grab a cutting board and cut away the stem and leaves of your cauliflower, and then slice the cauliflower sort of into steaks, place them on a baking sheet and drizzle them with olive oil, add a little bit of salt and pepper, and roast them at about 400 degrees for about 15 minutes until they're lightly golden and tender. Depending on how many people you're serving, but if it's six or more, I recommend using two heads of cauliflower.
Now, while that cooks, we're going to make a bechamel in a medium saucepan. Take about four tablespoons of butter, heat it over medium heat until it melts, then add in about six or seven tablespoons of flour until it reaches the consistency of wet sand. Whisk that all together, and just let it cook for a few minutes, you'll see the roux begin to change color. While the roux is still fairly blonde, add in milk. You're going to use around five cups.
Let that cook, whisking pretty much the whole time until it thickens. While that's cooking, take a microplane and grate in a large clove of garlic and a little bit of nutmeg. I like to use a whole nutmeg, and I use that microplane and just add in maybe an eighth a teaspoon. Season the milk mixture with some salt and pepper . Then we're going to add in some sliced sage. Now if you're using a whisk, you're going to have to switch to a spoon, because the sage will kind of get wrapped around the whisk, so it's easier to do this if you're using a spoon. Once the mixture coats the back of a spoon, it's ready.
Your cauliflower should be done. You can let it cool slightly, put it on a cutting board, and then kind of use a knife and tongs to chop it up into little coarse pieces. Since the cauliflower is cooked, it will chop really easily. Now transfer that cauliflower to a baking dish and pour in about two thirds of the bechamel. Mix it all up so that it's nice and coated.
Now take an egg and separate the yolk. You can reserve the white for another day. Take that yolk and put it in the remaining bechamel that's still in that saucepan. You can turn the heat on low and whisk it until it's almost at a simmer, then cover the pot and let it sit for about five minutes. What you'll end up with is a more custardy version. It's almost like a ricotta in a way. It's thick. You're going to take that and put it over top of the cauliflower that's been mixed with the bechamel. It creates almost like a cheesy layer on top, then sprinkle that with panko breadcrumbs and some parmesan cheese.
Pop it in the oven and let it bake for another 20-25 minutes, until it's golden brown. If you want to pop the broiler on at the very end, feel free to do so, just be careful not to burn it, and when you open that oven door, you will reap the benefits of this fragrant, decadent, delicious cauliflower that will make mashed potatoes seem like an afterthought. And this, my friends, compliments any menu, whether you're sticking with tradition or going for reinvention. The menu and the meal are like music, setting the tone and the energy of the day, and our contribution is smooth and silky with a contemporary vibe.
And while we remember how fortunate we are to feast on this meal next week, we'll be grounding ourselves not just in what we have to be thankful for, but remembering why those things matter, because a what, without a why or a who is like an empty cup. And I hope yours runneth over. Wishing you the happiest of Thanksgivings. Until our next episode, I say, so long.
Feed Your Fire, where food nourishes growth.