Elote-Style Cauliflower

and why recipes are not for me

For someone who creates a lot of recipes for work (and has been working on a cookbook for forever!), you might find it surprising that I don’t really like writing recipes. I have the constant problem of not writing them down and then kicking myself later when I can’t remember how I made something. I’m convinced in the moment that I’ve committed it all to memory, but obviously that is not always the case. But this is because the typical recipe format is simply not how I think when I think about cooking a dish. I’m a visual learner! I learn on the job, so to speak. I also find recipes as a format to be reductive, flawed, and somehow overly complicated for reasons that I won’t go into in this newsletter.

On the flip side, when a friend asks me how I make something I will often send a voice note in lieu of a recipe. When I ran a kitchen in Tel Aviv I walked the other chefs through dishes side by side, often multiple times, until it was ingrained in them. Turns out, my absolute favorite way of teaching someone how to cook is in real time, preferably shoulder to shoulder - so cozy!

This is why/how my cooking illustrative guides became a thing. I started sketching little step by step drawings as a way to get around the whole recipe writing conundrum I was in. These became fun to pass around to friends, to post on social media, to hand out at events, and soon will be a fantastic way for Loosha to be able to follow along (more on that later).

In the case of this newsletter I’m sharing my drawing for Elote-Style Cauliflower because the recipe is more of an idea and doesn’t demand measuring or particular details to get you to the same great result. The goal is that you learn how to dress a vegetable the way traditional Mexican street corn is dressed, and then do that to whatever vegetables suit your fancy.

In fact, I have dressed small roasted potatoes, carrots, radishes, even broccoli in this style and it’s always been yummy.

Then, you can use it as filling for a veggie taco or eat it as a side dish. You can snack on it with chips and guacamole, or next to a piece of roasted chicken or fish.

Elote-style Cauliflower

There is something downright delectable about the flavor of deeply roasted cauliflower. If given the chance, I can down an entire sheet pan by myself, popping florets into my mouth like popcorn. If you wanted to speed up the roasting time, you could blanch the cauliflower first in some salted boiling water for two minutes, then break into florets and proceed as instructed below. Cause you really want lots of craggy bits and caramelization.

For this version I call for butter and mayo but if you have plant based substitutes you like, go to town. And if you don’t have cotija cheese at home, I’ve made this dish with grated parmesan and even crumbled feta and found that as long as the cheese is overtly salty it works here.

*The only instruction I would alter here is that you should for sure wait a couple of minutes before dressing the cauliflower. If it goes into the bowl too hot the butter and mayo melt and fall off the florets. You want them slathered when all is said and done. Nice and warm but not hot. That’s the addendum.