While spending Holy Week in Italy, I encountered hard-boiled eggs at several tables and was reminded of the Easter breakfasts of my childhood. Every year my father recalled his childhood’s version of the meal which included eggs blessed at the church before consumption.
My mother made hard-boiled eggs regularly and I often asked to be allowed to peel them. Cracking the shell against the side of the sink was a small, loud act of transgression, eggs being so fragile when raw and usually needing such care. My mother served hard-boiled eggs alongside canned tuna or, in the summer, added them to a salad of tomatoes.
When, a couple of years ago, I came across an Italian recipe using hard-boiled eggs as an ingredient in a sauce to dress cauliflower, I was intrigued. I had not heard about it before and it caught my attention for its combination of flavors: cheese, egg and anchovies. There was also the matter of the recipe’s Italian name: Cavolfiore alla Cavour. How did a politician’s name, Cavour, become attached to a recipe for cauliflower?
On March 17, 1861, the Kingdom of Italy, with Vittorio Emanuele II of the House of Savoy as king, was proclaimed by the first Italian Parliament in Turin, first capital of the new kingdom. Rome (and a large swath of central Italy) remained under papal control until 1870 and the Eternal City became the capital in 1871. The historical period culminating with the proclamation is called Risorgimento, the political and military movement that aimed at unifying the Italian peninsula into a single nation state. Key figures of the movement include Giuseppe Garibaldi, Giuseppe Mazzini and Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour. The latter, usually referred to simply as Cavour, served as the first prime minister of the kingdom until his death at 51 a few months later. He is commemorated in Italian cities large and small with a square, street or avenue carrying his name.
Cavour liked good food and wine, but I didn’t know there were dishes carrying his name. While I couldn’t find his direct connection to this dish, I like the idea of being remembered by posterity both in civic spaces and on the table.
Cauliflower is a cultivar (i.e., cultivated variety) of the species Brassica oleracea, which includes other familiar vegetables, like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collard greens, kale, kohlrabi and broccolo romanesco.
I reach for a head of cauliflower throughout the year. It’s like a friend I can always count on, including in this transition period, while waiting for late spring and summer vegetables to become more abundant and more widely available, when I need something to alternate with the dark, leafy greens that are also available year-round.
The recipe on Il cucchiaio d’argento and other online sources is too rich for my taste, so I prepare a lighter version using less butter and one egg instead of two. I also steam the cauliflower rather than boiling it.
Each ingredient provides a note, without any one overwhelming. When you add the sauce to the cauliflower dressed with butter and cheese, the strong flavor of anchovies is more balanced. I serve the dish alongside something lighter, like a combination of dark leafy greens (beet greens, rainbow chard, radish greens to name a few), cooked with leeks or red spring onion.
Cauliflower Cavour
Note: The original recipe calls for Grana Padano, which is not easy to find here, so I use a California-made cheese, like Fiscalini Farmstead San Joaquin Gold or Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co. aged gouda.
Serves 3
1 pound 2 ounces cauliflower, trimmed (see below)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 ounces freshly grated Grana Padano or similar cheese (see note)
For the sauce:
1 large egg (pastured poultry)
2 small anchovy fillets in olive oil, each approx. 3 ½ inches long
1 tablespoon minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil or unsalted butter
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Before weighing, remove the leaves and thickest portion of the stem from the cauliflower. (The small inner leaves and the stalk, peeled and cut crosswise into coins can be used in other recipes.)
Wash the cauliflower and cut it into bite-sized florets. Steam the florets for 10-12 minutes or until just tender.
Place the egg in cold water in a small, lidded saucepan. Bring the water to a boil and cook the egg for 8 minutes on low heat. Plunge it into cold water, then set it aside.
Heat the oven to 350 F.
Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet on medium-high heat and add the cauliflower. Sauté for a few minutes stirring constantly. Sprinkle the sea salt and stir once more.
Transfer the cauliflower into a baking dish (a 9.5-inch pie plate or similar) and sprinkle the cheese evenly on top.
Bake for 9-10 minutes.
In the meantime, peel the hard-boiled egg and finely chop it in a small bowl. Mince the anchovies and add them to the egg. Add the minced parsley.
Drizzle in the olive oil or melted butter, then the lemon juice and stir gently. (If you choose the butter, use the sauce right away before the butter solidifies again. Olive oil gives you more time for this step.)
Take the baking dish out of the oven and distribute the sauce evenly on the cauliflower.
Serve immediately.
This article appears in ‘Devastation’.