Late Night Roasted Cauliflower

One of my favorite, easy to make, flavorful, and healthy late night dinners. You can do this in a toaster oven, your main convention oven, and even on the grill if you have a grill basket.

There are two keys to doing this well. First, make best attempt to have the cauliflower pieces cut to uniform size so that they cook evenly. Second, make best attempt to evenly coat the florets with the olive oil and spices.

Ingredients

• One head of cauliflower cut into uniform chunks
• Olive oil - 3-4 tablespoons to coat the cauliflower
• Spice mixture: A couple of options here
• Spicy - Mix of ancho chile powder, pinch of cayenne, cumin, salt
• Curry - Curry powder, garlic powder, coriander, salt
• Herb - Herb de Provence works great mixed with salt

Directions

Mix cauliflower with olive oil in a large bowl. Sprinkle on the selected spice mixture evenly. If cooking in an oven, spread on a cookie sheet in one layer and roast at 400F. If cooking on the grill, cook on medium-high heat shaking the basket every 10 minutes. Cook until florets are brown and charred in some places, 20-25 minutes.

For Technologists

Sometimes you just have to go back to the basics, like learning data science principals from fourth grade class rules or what agile teams can learn from first graders.

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Pork Bourguignon with Roasted Potatoes and Cauliflower

I love beef bourguignon and thought to give it a try with pork. In this case, I bought a pork shoulder, half that I used to smoke and half that I used for this dish. I made the classic dish, then added roasted cauliflower and potatoes as a bonus add on.

My only issue with the approach was the rendered fat from the pork made for a greasy sauce. You can see it on the rim of the plate in the attached photo. If I used a leaner cut of meat then I doubt it would stand up to the cooking time. Suggested improvements welcome!

Ingredients

• Four slices of bacon diced up
• Pork shoulder - about 2-3 pounds, cut into 1 inch cubes.
• Flour (whole wheat works fine)
• Large onion and three large carrots diced
• Tomato paste
• Cup of beef broth
• Bottle of pinot noir 
• Bouquet Garni of thyme, basil, and oregano
• Small red potatoes cut in half
• Cauliflower, cut into small florets
• Package of mushrooms
• Olive oil
• Salt, pepper, more basil, thyme and oregano

Directions

Put oven on 350F. Mixed the pork with flour, salt, and pepper until pieces are well covered. Warm up the dutch oven on low-medium heat. Cook the bacon until crisp and fat rendered, about 15 minutes. Remove the bacon and save for later. Remove all but one table spoon of the rendered bacon fat and save the rest for later.

Add the pork to the dutch oven and brown in small batches so that each batch has sufficient space to brown. About 5 minutes per batch, and add a tablespoon of bacon fat to fry up each batch.

Add a table spoon of bacon fat and render the onion and carrots for about 10 minutes. Add in the tomato paste and allow to brown. Deglaze the pan with the broth, then add the full bottle of pinot noir and the bouquet garni. Bring to a simmer, cover, and move to a middle rack in the oven. 

While the pork is cooking, slice potatoes in half and cut the cauliflower into small pieces. Mix with olive oil, bacon fat, salt, pepper, and herbs and spread one layer on 1-2 baking sheets. Bake on the top rack for forty minutes.

Saute mushrooms. About 75 minutes into the cooking pour into the dutch oven and mix. Cook for fifteen more minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to settle for 10-15 minutes. Remove the Bouquet Garni. Ladle into bowls and add potatoes, cauliflower, and bacon.

For Technologists

This recipe requires a little bit of planning to have things ready at certain times so that the dish can be completed efficiently. Have the pork ready to add to the oven after the bacon completes. Get the pork baking in the oven and leave you enough time to get the potatoes and cauliflower prepped and cooking.

My post, Defining the Agile Planning Sprint attempts to lay out a similar structure for developing and estimating stories in time for a development sprint. It is a defined, 5-day process starting with gathering business requirements and ending with a structured breakdown of story stubs (not fully defined stories) that can be reviewed and analyzed for software architecture and other considerations.
 

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Simple Grilled Kale With Plums

Here's another approach to grilled kale - call it the fifteen minute, two ingredient version. Ronan's grilled kale is a better recipe if you ate preparing this dish for guests and this is the version I do when I just need something quick.

Chop the kale into large bite-sized pieces. Toss with about a quarter cup of olive oil and plenty of salt. Place chopped kale in a deep grill basket and grill on medium heat with top closed. Shake and turn every five minutes until the leaves are wilted, about 10-15 minutes in total. Place kale on platter and add olive oil if the kale looks dry. Serve with sliced plums.

Also works well with peaches, nectarines and strawberries.

For Technologists

I wrote a post about three years ago stating, "I firmly believe the best products are simple." It was a plea to agile product owners to stop over complicating their products and features with too many bells and whistles and other nuances that add to complexity. MVP - minimal viable product - also works well in cooking with good ingredients and simple techniques.

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Grilled Salmon and Kale Chips

Sweet and salty kale chips are a unique and healthy accompaniment to rich salmon fillets.  Perfect any time of the year, but especially good now as the summer wanes and the fall approaches.  Sit on the deck or patio and enjoy a nice glass of wine while you dine.  This recipe is a family favorite – and you can never make enough kale chips.

 

 

Ingredients

For the kale chips:

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp agave nectar

1 tsp sea salt

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/8 – 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (we use the minimum or less to make it less spicy)

1 medium bunch kale (12 oz.), washed, stemmed and chopped into 1” pieces

* We always double the kale chips – as I said for our family there can never be enough

For the salmon:

Salmon fillets (6-8 oz. each)

Olive oil

Fresh parsley, washed and finely chopped

Sea salt

Fresh cracked black pepper, if desired

* There endless recipes for grilling salmon, pick your favorite or use this simple but fresh one

Directions

For the kale chips:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, place rack(s) in center of oven
• Whisk all ingredients except kale in a small bowl
• Place kale in a large bowl and toss with dressing to coat
• Spread kale onto baking sheet in a single layer (you may have to do this in batches)
• Bake for 8-10 minutes
• Toss chips with a wooden spatula and return to oven for another 7-8 minutes, until crispy throughout

For the salmon:

• Preheat grill for medium heat and lightly oil grill grate
• Brush salmon fillets with olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt (and black pepper if desired) and parsley
• Cook salmon 6-8 minutes per side or until the fish flakes easily with a fork

For Technologists

Salmon…they swim upstream…which makes me think of the struggles we sometime experience in growing and maturing our Agile practice.  Not all areas of an organization come along for the swim and partnering and collaborating is not always easy.  But as the saying goes, “just keep swimming, just keep swimming” and in the end everything will be delicious.  See more on this topic at Isaac’s post on driving an agile culture.

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Hot Garlic Grilled Shrimp

Need a quick recipe to try out the mortar and pestle? Try this one. It's a relatively quick recipe plus marinade time and is very flavorful.

This recipe should come our flavorful and spicy. If you like it hotter, consider balancing the recipe with more chili and less garlic. You can also double up the ingredients and coat the shrimp more.

I serve this as an appetizer. It's gone by the time I reach the table.

Ingredients

• About a lb of large 12-16 count shrimp
• Kosher salt (tsp)
• Garlic (3-4 cloves)
• Thai chili peppers (2, or use serrano peppers)
• Cumin seeds
• Olive oil
• Lime
• Cilantro

Directions

Peel and clean the shrimp and put into a bowl. Add salt, garlic, peppers, and seeds to the mortar and pestle. Crush, then add olive oil to form a paste. Pour on the shrimp and mix evenly. Cover and let it marinade for about an hour.

Turn grill on high and allow to warm up at least fifteen minutes. Spread shrimp out evenly and cook about 1-2 minutes per side.

Pull from grill onto a plate. Squeeze in a lime and sprinkle with chopped cilantro.

For Technologists

Like I said, this is a very basic recipe and you can find versions and variants of it on many web sites. There is still a lot you can learn from the basics, like what data scientists can learn from fourth graders or my post on what agile teams can learn from first graders.

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Octoberfest Poached Salmon

I have several variants of this recipe, but this one is great for the early fall. It has the hearty flavors from the beer, beans, and spices inspired by German beer and sausage, but is light and easy to cooking on a hot day.

This recipe is better done with a thin filet of salmon left with the skin on.

Ingredients

• Handful of cumin seeds and fennel seeds
• About a teaspoon of ancho chili powder and a pinch of chipotle pepper powder, but use what you have
• Olive oil, 2-3 tablespoons
• Half a large yellow onion sliced thin
• Two garlic cloves, sliced
• Thai chili pepper or substitute a serrano or jalapeno pepper
• Olive oil
• Half a bottle of Octoberfest beer
• Salmon fillet, skin on, not longer than the width of your frying pan
• Kosher salt and ground pepper to taste
• Half can of kidney beans
• Optional, butter 2 tablespoons of butter

Directions

Put a frying pan on a low-medium burner and toast the cumin seeds, fennel seeds and chili powder for a couple of minutes until fragrant. Add olive oil and saute the onion, garlic and chili pepper for 5-6 minutes. Pour in enough beer to cover the bottom of the pan and 1/3 of the thickness of the fillet but not too much where the salmon skin will be submerged - about a half bottle. Bring to a simmer and lower the heat. Sprinkle the salmon skin with salt and pepper and add to the pan skin side up. Cover and simmer 5-6 minutes.

Remove the salmon from the pan. Add the beans and butter if you want that restaurant glaze. Cook and stir 1-2 more minutes. Place beans and some of the onions on top of the salmon and pour the sauce on the side.

For Technologists

I'm providing a recipe in September to prep you for October. It's a little like how I run a tight agile shop and have developed practices around agile planning. For example, I ask my teams to have at least two sprints of backlog fully defined (stories written and sized) along with a deeper backlog of estimated stories. It's one of the practices I recommend for improving agile team velocity.

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End of Summer Salsa

I love making salsas, especially at the end of summer when there is an abundance of ripe delicious vegetables. This recipe was inspire by my neighbor, who has us come over every year to pick vegetables from her garden. What should I do with all the Thai chili peppers that we picked? Here's one suggestion, but be careful! They are super hot!

Ingredients

3-4 ripe, off the vine tomatoes
1/2 a large yellow onion
1-2 Thai chili peppers (any hot pepper is fine)
2 scallions
2 handfuls of chopped cilantro
1/2 lime
salt

Directions

Dice tomato. I find it easy to do this with tomatoes off the vine by slicing them, then dicing each slice. Cut the onion into a super fine dice and add both to a bowl. Chop the chili pepper into very small bits and add. Add chopped scallions and cilantro. Squeeze in mix lime juice and add salt. Mix well together and add salt to taste.

For Technologists

Simple ingredients used in simple recipes often yield amazing results. It reminds me of my post, Trying to Develop a Death Star or a Flux Capacitor and on developing minimal viable products. Amazing how many product owners working with agile teams don't "get" this, and over-engineer their products.

  

 

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