Roasted Cauliflower Tacos With Peanut Mole – Texas Monthly

Welcome to In Season, our collection celebrating the juiciest fruit and crispest veggies in Texas. This fall, we requested native cooks to share tales about their favourite gadgets of seasonal produce—and create unique recipes that take advantage of fall bounty.

For Texans, fall brings the everyday seasonal changes—crimson foliage, cloud-swept horizons, and the comfy aroma of fireplaces lit for the primary time. However Texas is huge, and the terrain varies, so not all of us expertise autumn the identical manner. For Emiliano Marentes, fall is merely a blip between the sweltering summer time warmth and onset of winter. “It’s tremendous scorching, after which we get a bit little bit of chilly, after which it’s again to tremendous scorching,” says the El Paso–primarily based chef and proprietor of Elemi. “I don’t expertise the seasonal adjustments like I did once I was dwelling in San Antonio.”

However the lack of a definite autumn doesn’t stop the chef from indulging within the abundance of produce the season yields. Marentes loves citrus, particularly grapefruit. He’s a fan of squash. And he will get down—manner down—with cauliflower.

“My favourite method to cook dinner cauliflower is to roast it with olive oil, salt, and pepper,” says Marentes. He additionally adores it drenched in dense sauces, significantly moles, due to the cruciferous vegetable’s potential to provide method to any richness it’s smothered in. Cauliflower acts as a form of automobile for sauces, particularly in Marentes’s roasted cauliflower and peanut mole tacos.

“The vegetable works effectively with nutty flavors,” he says. “And this mole is a extremely nutty.”

He makes use of almonds within the mole at Elemi, however right here, he’s tailored the recipe for residence cooks. “I like peanut mole, however you realize, lots of people are allergic to peanuts. The almonds work rather well.” However his most well-liked taste, peanut, is the nucleus of this hearty, easy-to-make mole.

The completed product, topped with queso fresco and pepitas.{Photograph} by Brittany Conerly

Roasted Cauliflower Tacos with Peanut Mole (Tacos de Coliflor Encacahuatado)

Cauliflower tacos

Serves 4.
1 head of cauliflower
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, to style
Bitter cream seasoned with a splash of salt and a squeeze of contemporary lime juice
Corn tortillas
Queso fresco, crumbled

Peanut mole

1 pound Roma or different massive tomatoes
4 cups water
2 pasilla chile peppers
2 ancho chile peppers
2 morita peppers
½ yellow onion, chopped
4 complete garlic cloves
¼ teaspoon black peppercorns
½ teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
½ pound peanuts, roasted (buy them pre-roasted)
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (should buy pre-toasted)
1 tablespoon salt (can add extra to style)

For the cauliflower tacos:

Preheat the oven to 400 levels.
Reduce the cauliflower into florets. In a mixing bowl, costume the florets with extra-virgin olive oil and season with salt and black pepper.
Place the cauliflower on a sheet pan and roast for about 15–20 minutes or till it begins to brown. Examine for doneness by poking a big piece with a knife or cake tester. The florets must be tender however not mushy.
Set cauliflower apart. Put together the mole (recipe beneath) and add the cauliflower to the pot and stir.
Heat tortillas within the microwave or oven.
Utilizing a spoon, scoop a couple of items of cauliflower with mole on prime or the tortilla to make a taco. Drizzle with bitter cream and sprinkle some crumbled queso fresco on prime. Garnish with roasted sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, peanuts, or all three.

For the peanut mole:

Preheat oven to 450 levels. Coat tomatoes in olive oil and place on a baking sheet. Roast for 40–50 minutes, or till they start to brown.
Convey the water to a boil, then take away from warmth. Shortly toast the chiles in a scorching sauté pan for 3 to five minutes, being cautious to not burn them. Take away chiles from the pan and steep them within the boiling water for 10 minutes.
Sauté the onions till golden brown, then add the garlic and cook dinner till aromatic. Add the roasted tomatoes and cook dinner over medium warmth till many of the liquid has evaporated and tomatoes are beginning to follow the underside of the pan.
Pressure and rinse the chiles, reserving the water they cooked in.
Add all of the remaining spices, nuts, and reserved water into the pan and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Enable sauce to chill down. Then, utilizing a blender, course of the sauce till it turns into a easy paste.
Return to the range and proceed cooking to desired thickness and season with salt to style, then stir into roasted cauliflower for tacos.