Yotem Ottolenghi, the master of many ingredients, has published a new book called SIMPLE. It is a beautiful text and in fact does have many simple and ingredient pared recipes. Among them, I found this, and with the preponderance of beautiful mini cauliflowers of many colors still in the green markets, I was inspired to make it. It is indeed simple: ingredients-the aforementioned cauliflower, a Tablespoon each of butter and olive oil, and flaky sea salt, Maldon if you have it. He adds a green dipping sauce, but I found the sweetness and crunchiness of the cauliflower more than enough (I did serve some Greek yogurt alongside because I had a purple cauliflower and it looked so beautiful). I made this with a mini sized head, but the recipe works for any size. Here are the directions. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rinse the cauliflower, trim the stem to flatten it, but do not remove the leaves (they get crunchy and delicious in the roasting process) and place in salted boiling water head down for 5-6 minutes. Don’t worry if the head is not completely immersed. After 6 minutes, remove and place head down in a colander to drain for 10 minutes. Place drained and cooled head on a sheet pan or an oven proof dish head side up (you can use the dish for serving) and top with butter, olive oil, and a sprinkle of the the sea salt. Roast in oven for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours depending on the size of the head. Remove from the oven and let cool. Sprinkle with a bit more salt and pepper. Serve as is either on the sheet pan or on the dish. Just break off the florets and eat. It is crunchy on the top, and creamy in the middle, the leaves get potato chip like, just a great vegetarian lunch or dinner side. And so much more inventive than the tiresome cauliflower rice.

Simple Starter Scallop Ceviche. Ceviche is fish cooked in a citrus acid or vinegar and can be prepared with different varieties of fish and a multitude of ingredients and techniques, but this is basic, simple, and fresh, and all the ingredients are easy to come by. You will need sea scallops (plan on one per person), the zest and juice of one lime, 1/2 Serrano pepper or Jalapeño pepper or whatever pepper you want for heat (or keep it heat free if that is your preference and use 1/4 slice red bell pepper cut into small dice), a slice of red onion-diced, mint, and salt and pepper to taste. First, slice your scallops across to make three small discs holding your hand on top of the scallop to make even cuts. Then cut each disc into cubes; try to get nine per disc as shown. Add the lime zest to the cubes. Save the juice for finishing. Add the chopped onion. Slice the pepper into small rounds and then chop finely. Add the amount you want for desired heat to the mix. If serving later, cover the mixture with plastic wrap and refrigerate. If you are serving right away, add 1/2 the reserved lime juice and the salt and pepper and taste. If you want more tang, add more lime juice. The scallops will start to cure immediately, the longer they sit, the more “cooked” they become. Tear pieces of the mint and scatter over the ceviche. Stir well. Serve on a tortilla chip, on a small spoon, or even on a potato chip. It all works. One more thing, if you don’t like or can’t eat scallops, you can make this with any non oily fish using the same technique. Or if shrimp is your thing, just blanch the shrimp (cook in boiling water until shrimp turns pink and rinse in ice water to stop the cooking), chop into bite sized pieces and add the rest of the ingredients. Cocktails, anyone?