Cauliflower broccoli turmeric pilaf
A bit of hodgepodge rice
I’ve been bandying about the idea of putting together a cookbook for weeknight meals. Really more of a playbook than a cookbook. I’m not a chef (people who should publish cookbooks), but I am a mom who cooks (people who should publish playbooks). My premise: weeknight meals are easier if you have the same routine, the same techniques, the same playbook - and you keep it interesting by playing with flavour combinations and ingredients.
On weeknights I love one pot meals. Fewer dishes to wash and the simplicity of ‘one thing’ keeps me chill. I love pilafs but hate that they are predominately rice (or grain). So I’m on a mission to create more robust and healthy-ish ones.
So tonight’s post is a ‘Thursday night pilaf’ play/recipe experiment. It’s a bit of a hodgepodge but it turned out weirdly satisfying. Try it if you dare; and send me your edits ☺️
Tonight’s takes:
Husband: “I like this rice a lot. But the broccoli colour looks bad.”
Helen (5 1/2 years old): “Pretty good. I mostly like the sausage.”
Hector (3 years old): Ate it. Didn’t love it
What I used:
1 medium head of cauliflower
1 small head of broccoli
1 medium yellow onion
1 tbsp turmeric
2 cups of vegetable stock
2 cups basmati rice
1 salmon fillet - I only had one left in my freezer
2 lamb sausages - I wanted more protein so I added these in last minute
Feta cheese
Lemon
What I did:
Diced onion, broccoli, and cauliflower into bite-sized pieces. Discarded the hard stems and leaves of the broccoli and cauliflower.
Put Le Creuset (my go-to pot for pilaf because the lid is heavy and keeps the steam from escaping) on medium-high heat.
Added enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pot.
Sautéed onions until translucent.
Added turmeric and rice.
Sautéed just until rice and turmeric were a toasty colour and smell - took about a minute.
Added 2 cups of stock and 2 cups of water.
Scraped the bottom of the pot to loosen any brown bits.
Added broccoli and cauliflower.
Brought to a gentle boil.
Placed salmon and sausages on top.
Put the lid on, turned the temperature down to medium-low, and set the timer for 20 minutes.
When the timer went off - took the pot off the heat and let it sit with the lid on for 5 minutes.
Removed the lid. Done!
Served with feta and lemon wedges.
Next time:
Like I said off the top, this was weirdly satisfying. Toasting the rice and spice, and having a healthy amount of olive oil make a big difference to the final texture and taste. Next time I’d omit the broccoli because the colour looks awful after 20 minutes of cooking. And I’d just do sausage, no salmon. The pilaf would have also benefited from a bit more veg (maybe celery?) or texture (maybe cashews?). Still mulling it over…let me know what you’d try!
😋
-Ellisa