Cauliflower with Lemon, Capers, and Hard Boiled Egg

This dish can be served hot or cold. If you serve it hot, add toasted panko breadcrumbs to the top. If you serve it cold along side your grilled food, skip the bread crumbs, because they'll get soggy. Don't add any bread crumbs to the hot version if you think you might have leftovers. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top of the individual servings instead.

A word about panko bread crumbs. They're freekin' awesome. You should never use another kind of bread crumb. They're crispy and magnificent. They are great for breading a pork chop or topping a casserole. A Japanese product, they were all the rage on Iron Chef (a cooking competition show on the food network) a few years ago. Now they have them in supermarkets everywhere. What is panko?

CAULIFLOWER WITH LEMON, CAPERS, AND HARD BOILED EGG

INGREDIENTS

1 head cauliflower, cut into pieces

1 1/2 T lemon juice

1 hard boiled egg, chopped

2 T capers

2 T parsley

salt and pepper

butter

panko bread crumbs

Steam the cauliflower. Mix in the rest of the ingredients (except panko and butter). *Optional*Top with panko that you cooked in butter in a skillet until browned.

MICROWAVE METHOD

Place cauliflower and lemon juice in a covered, microwave safe bowl. Microwave until the cauliflower until it is cooked through. Start with 5 minutes and check. Add one minute and check again. Repeat until your cauliflower is done. (Mine takes 9 minutes in my slow microwave.) All microwaves cook differently. Write down your time so you know how long to cook it next time. Mix in remaining ingredients (except panko and butter). *Optional*Top with panko that you cooked in butter in a skillet until browned.

Microwave Vegetable Chart

I'm way behind, I know. I'm just now starting to discover microwaving fresh vegetables. Julie taught me to use the microwave to cook broccoli. I'll post my microwave broccoli ham and cheese recipe when I get the method and amounts written down. Evidently (as everyone but me knows) any vegetable that you would parboil or steam you can cook in the microwave. According to the article, vegetables taste better, have better color and may retain more vitamins when cooked in the microwave. It makes sense that the vegetables would have more vitamins because the vitamins aren't leaching out into the boiling water. Put the vegetables in a bowl with a tiny bit of water (or lemon juice) or none at all with some vegetables, cover and nuke. According to an article in the New York Times, here are approximate cooking times:

Asparagus.............2 minutes

Artichokes.............6 minutes

Broccoli.................9 minutes in my slow microwave

Cauliflower..............5 minuets (9 minutes in my slow microwave)

Potatoes or beets...4 minutes

spinach.................1 or 2 minutes

eggplant................7 minutes

Cooking times vary according to your microwave. Old microwaves take much longer. Under cook rather then over cook. When you figure out how long it takes to cook a vegetable, write it down so you can cook it again without constant checking. I'll update this chart as I make veggies in my microwave. I'm guessing some of these times are just to parcook the vegetables.

See my microwave broccoli, ham, and cheese recipe.