Greek Cauliflower Rice with Feta and Olives

The food processor. It is tucked away high in a cupboard above our fridge, behind mixing bowls. Getting the food processor out means getting out my folding kitchen stool, clearing off the top of the fridge (this is actually a chore, with the amount of stuff we keep up there), and pulling 4 pieces down from three separate shelves (the base, the bowl, the lid, and any blades or attachments). And that's just to get the thing out: don't get me started on dishwashing. 😒

I avoid it. Need a half-cup of shredded cheese? I'll grate it by hand. You'd like those radishes sliced thin? Give me the chopping knife. But some times, on really rare occasions, it's worth it. Like when making almond flour pie crust. Or when making a really, really big batch of pesto, or shredding cauliflower into rice. 

Cauliflower rice isn't a regular menu item around here (we will just eat regular old rice) but the summer sun has me in the mood for light dishes. And you know how dearly I love cauliflower, so it has to be no surprise to you that I'm up for one more way to eat it. And, hey, here's a pro tip: if you hate getting your fancy food processor out as much as I do, you can buy cauliflower, pre-riced at Trader Joe's and the stuff is pretty good. Sure you don't get to see your pretty head of cauliflower in it's full and beautiful form before it gets shredded, but you do save about 20 minutes when all is said and the dish are washed, and I think that's worth it, especially on a week night. 

Something else I've been in the mood for? Feta cheese. It's has been finding it's way into all sorts of meals around here lately: everything-but-the-kitchen-sink salads, breakfast omelettes, burger tops, and sautés. The Costco-sized container lasted us not but a week, but still, enough time to make this Greek-inspired cauliflower dish a few times. 

What happens when you find yourself a Costco-sized container of feta and an easy-peasy way to make cauliflower rice? Well, why don't you just make this recipe to find out 😉

Greek Cauliflower Rice with Feta and Olives

Published June 22, 2017 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 large shallot, diced
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 pound cauliflower, riced or shredded in food processor (you can buy it pre-shredded at Trader Joe’s in the produce section)
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 cup sliced black olives (kalamata is great, but any black olive with do)
• 1/3 cup minced parsley, plus more for garnish
• Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat coconut oil in a skillet over medium heat. When the oil glistens, add the diced shallot. Sauté until transparent.
2. Add the cauliflower rice to the pan. Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Allow the cauliflower to brown a bit, and then remove from heat. Stir in the parsley, olives, and feta, and season with salt & pepper to taste. Garnish with extra parsley if desired. Serve warm.

Macedonia de Frutas (Chilean-Style Fruit Salad)

¿Quien Quiere Ser Millonario? (the Spanish version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?) played on the little TV in the corner of the kitchen. My host mom stood at the counter, preparing ceviche, answering every trivia question before the multiple choice options were even displayed on the screen.  

Manzana. Pera. Naranja. (Apple. Pear. Orange.)

Tienes muchas paciencia, hija, you have so much patience chopping all of those fruits so small. I had just returned from a trip to Los Lagos region in Chile, where I, along with a heard of other students, had picked fresh oranges, visited a Mapuche village, and dined on food fresh from the Fagón. Dessert? The best damn fruit salad I had ever had.   

Fruit salad. Such a blah dish. It's the sort of dish your grandma served as a "healthy dessert" when you really just wanted a cookie (mine did at least). But this fruit salad. This fruit salad! You’d never see fruit salad the same way again. Served in a crystal goblet, it looked like something well beyond the fruit salad I knew. A far cry from the plastic container of pineapple, under ripe melon, and grapes you’d buy at an American grocery store. In Chile, fruit salad like this is called Macedonia De Fruta. 

The fruit was chopped so small, you could hardly tell what each bite contained. A hint of lemon. A bouquet of nature’s sweets. A medley of sorts. It must’ve had some effect on me, as the day I returned to my host families home, I volunteered to make the fruit salad for the asado (barbecue) happening that afternoon. I knew exactly what I was going to do.  

Slicing and dicing didn’t feel like patience. My mind was far away, the TV just a sound in the background. Chopping each piece of fruit was meditation. I could’ve zoned out for hours. 

Macedonia de Frutas (Chilean-Style Fruit Salad)

Published June 20, 2017 by Caitlin Sherwood

This fruit salad is chopped fine so you get a little bit of everything in each bite.

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 20 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 nectarine 
• 1 banana
• 1 apple
• 1 pear 
• 2 kiwi
• 1 yellow mango 
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• Juice of 1/2 an orange 
• Sprig of mint 

Directions:

1. Chop fruit, removing pits and seeds as you go (remove peels from banana, mango, and kiwi), into 1/2 inch cubes. Place in bowl.
2. Sprinkle with lemon zest and squeeze orange juice over fruit. Toss to combine, and top with a spring of mint. Serve immediately or allow flavors to marinate together for 30 minutes, covered, in the fridge to prevent oxidization.

Spicy Barbecue Shrimp & Pineapple Skewers

It is 8pm, and I am laying side ways across my bed, soaking up the fact that I have nowhere to be and no reason to go to bed early or to say up late. The last week in Ecuador has been nothing short of amazing, but to get all of that goodness into 4 days, you must go go go!

The last week I have been eating my fair share of seafood, while I can: Ceviche de Camarones, Tilapia Frito, Crovina Asado. Mejillones, almejas, y pargo. (Shrimp ceviche, fried tilapia, grilled sea bass. Mussels, clams, and red snapper). One would think I'd be done with it by now, ready for a hot burger or a sizzling chicken breast but I am not. Bring on the fresh shellfish! How lucky am I to travel all this way to dine like this? 

And it's not just seafood of course: it's fruit too. We ate a grapefruit straight from a tree, and munched on fresh cacao fruit from a purple-ish red pod. We sipped coconut water, ate passion fruit and passed field after field of pineapples.

This dish has a bit of everything going for it: the best of both worlds. The two ingredients I saw the most of the last week: succulent shrimp and sweet pineapple. Slathered in BBQ sauce for a North American twist. A splash of hot sauce--ají- to give it some zip.

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Spicy Barbecue Shrimp & Pineapple Skewers

Published June 13, 2017 by Caitlin Sherwood

Spicy barbecue sauce is the perfect compliment to sweet pineapple! Perfect for the grill, but can be cooked in your oven, too.

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 pound raw shrimp, shelled and deveined 
• 1/2 cup barbecue sauce of choice
• 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
• 1-2 teaspoons hot sauce (depending on spice preferences)
• 1 cup fresh pineapple, cubed into bite-sized pieces 
• Metal or wooden skewers

Directions:

1. Mix together melted coconut oil, barbecue sauce, and hot sauce in a small bowl.
2. In the morning, place shrimp in a ziplock bag for marinating. Pour 1/2 of barbecue sauce mixture into bag over shrimp, and toss the shrimp to coat them in the sauce. Close the bag, and place in fridge for 4-6 hours, or until ready to cook. Reserve the rest of the sauce for using after cooking.
3. Assemble: use metal skewers or wooden kabob sticks and skewer shrimp and cubes of fresh pineapple in an alternating pattern.
4. Turn your oven to the Broil setting and allow to cook for 3-5 minutes, until shrimp are opaque and pink, and starting to brown on the edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5 minutes before serving. Note: You may also cook the skewers on a grill. Light your grill and bring it to high heat. Cook skewers for 2 minutes and the flip, cooking for 2 additional minutes or until shrimp are opaque and starting to char.
5. Serve over a bead of rice or cauliflower rice.