Typical recipe from Lombardy, fried cauliflower with butter and parmesan is perfect to enjoy this vegetable appreciated throughout Italy. Rightly so, since it is a healthy and diet food (in addition to being extraordinarily rich in vitamin C and potassium) which is mistakenly considered a winter food. In fact, early and late hybrids are found on market stalls for nine months a year, with the sole exception of the hottest summer months.
This pale-flowered cabbage has a dual personality. On the one hand it releases strong sulfurous touches while cooking. stays though delicate on the palatewith aromatic notes of musk and earth that are theideal to accompany strong and spicy flavors. Very mature cheeses, spicy chilli, mustard, dill, cumin and garlic are all its ideal companions, capable of maximizing its sweetness.
Like all cabbages too Cauliflower can be enjoyed raw, cut very thin and marinated with oil, lemon and aromatic herbs. However It is best when steamed. or you can boil it.
The best way to cook it is whole, then dividing it into florets after cooking. This in theory. In practice, cooking it whole makes it difficult to control the doneness: the risk is that the outer tips will fall apart when the stems are still hard. That is why we prefer to cut it first (even making a cross cut in part of the largest stems), but paying close attention to the cooking times, so that the florets are very firm.
Fried cauliflower with butter and parmesan is just one of the Many recipes from Lombardy, where this vegetable is cooked in practically every possible way..
I our case the featured ingredient is fat. Bacon is used today, but traditionally it was plain. lard. It is an essential ingredient to give the proper harmony to everything, so it is best not to go below the indicated dose. Consider that the most traditional recipes, those from a century ago, included a double dose of butter compared to the bacon that we indicate.
- 1 medium cauliflower, approximately 1 kg
- 80 g bacon (or, preferably, lard)
- 50 grams of butter
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- Parmesan
- Parsley
- Pepper
- Trim the cauliflower of the tougher outer leaves and keep the softer ones. Then divide it into florets, removing all the core and the toughest parts of the stems. Wash it and immerse it in plenty of boiling water with a little salt. Cook it no more than 8 minutes after it comes back to the boil: drain it while it is still al dente and let it drain well.
- Melt the butter in a large frying pan and sweat the diced bacon for 2-3 minutes over very low heat. Also add the chopped onion and garlic together and let it fry for another 7-8 minutes, always very gently.
- Add the cauliflower, season with salt, season with freshly ground pepper and let it season for a few minutes over low heat, stirring a couple of times.
- Sprinkle the cauliflower with Parmesan (amount to taste: in our opinion 5 heaped tablespoons, equivalent to about 70-80 g), cover and let it cook for a few minutes until it melts. Serve your cauliflower hot in a pan with butter and parmesan.