Ad Hoc Side Dish, Upstaged By Simple Shrimp

I'd been saving this recipe for quite some time. I saw it in the LA times. A reader wrote in and requested the recipe for Ad Hoc's (Thomas Keller's family style Napa restaurant) side dish of roasted cauliflower and rice. It's pretty simple really, cauliflower florets are tossed with canola oil and S&P and roasted in a 400º oven for about 25 minutes. Meanwhile rice is cooked with chili flakes until just tender. The drained rice is set in a 250º to dry for 5 minutes and then quickly mixed with olive oil. The cauliflower is tossed with curry powder. The rice is mixed in and stirred through with butter and chopped green onions just before serving. Phew!

I happened to have some shrimp in the fridge and the last bit of olive oil from some herb marinated olives I made up for a party a while back. On a whim I tossed that flavored olive oil in a frying pan, added in the peeled shrimp and cooked them over high heat until just pink. I plated the shrimp on the rice and drizzled the remaining olive oil over the rice.

"The sauce makes this," James said referring to the heavily flavored warm oil.

That's a simple flavor step I have to remember.