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The Five Biggest Food Trends for 2015 plus Fine Cooking’s Rigatoni with Roasted Cauliflower, Currants and Pine Nuts

The Five Biggest Food Trends for 2015 plus Fine Cooking’s Rigatoni with Roasted Cauliflower, Currants and Pine Nuts
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         Food Trends are an annual pursuit for everyone from Bon Appetit to the BBC.  The list that intrigued me most, however, came from Pinterest, the on-line picture sharing site where anyone, anywhere can post any image at all that interests them.  “Food” makes up for just over 10 percent of what’s pinned lagging behind Home Décor, Arts and Crafts and Fashion and Style.  (I was surprised that Cat pictures didn’t even make the top 10.) Pinterest developed their list of food trends simply by tallying up the most popular pins on its site. This sounds like a flawless way to zero in on what people are actually eating rather than the predictions of someone who is locked in the towers of Conde Nast or Broadcast House.  Pinterest narrowed its list down to five. And here they are:
1. Ramen, long a college dorm room staple, have risen in restaurant popularity to the point that Pinterest thinks they are poised to enter the home kitchen this year.
 
 
 
2. Hack the Menu.  This involves discovering ‘secret’ non-menu items that can be ordered at restaurants, coffee shops and fast food restaurants thereby assuring your dinner mates that you are a master or mistress of privileged information.  California’s In-N-Out Burger alone is responsible for 17 of these.
    3.  The Paleo diet mimic foods eaten by early humans –meat, fish, vegetables and fruits.  No dairy, no grains and certainly no processed food.  But hold onto your toque, Carbs are about to enter the picture with recipes like Paleo Waffles.  Although what the early humans did for a waffle iron is not explained.
       

4.Tequila is the new Vodka.  And 80 is the new 60…just kidding.

 
     
 
 
 
 

5.  Cauliflower is the new Kale.  Andrew greeted this last one with great joy having somehow missed last year’s boat when Kale was the new bacon.  According to Pinterest, Cauliflower isn’t just a side dish anymore.  It’s now a center of the plate item. There’s even a recipe for pizza crust that uses cauliflower and wouldn’t you know it’s gluten-free!

So there you have them.  A long way round to bring you to today’s remarkable Cauliflower recipe.

           

 Andrew’s sister Lauren, always a source of great food sharing ideas, first discovered and then cooked this Fine Cooking Recipe in their current issue.  It’s from their “Make It Tonight” series which is a consistent source of great weeknight menu ideas.  Here florets of cauliflower are roasted in a hot oven while you make buttered breadcrumbs on the stove top.  The aromatics are next.  Garlic and lots of it is combined with minced anchovies. I know I’ve had this discussion before but please don’t equate this use of anchovies to those sad dried out little filets topping a bad Caesar salad.  Here they add a deep, savory flavor. The reconstituted currants give the dish a little sweetness.  Pecorino Romano and pine nuts join the breadcrumbs to top the finished pasta dish.  Since Pine Nuts are practically a day’s pay, you can substitute toasted walnuts pieces without taking away anything from the dish.  Let’s not leave out the parsley because this is another monochromatic dish that needs the color.  The only liberty I took with the Fine Cooking Recipe was cutting back on the amount of pasta. I’ve made the dish twice.  The first time, I went with their recommended quantity and it seemed to overwhelm the ‘sauce’.  The second time I used 1 cup of dried pasta per serving and the taste of the cauliflower came shining through.  Here is the recipe:



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