Kelp and Cauliflower Scampi by Brooks Headley

Shrimp scampi is everyone’s favorite Italian American dish. Here we replace the shell fish with kelp “noodles” and bulk it up with a good-for-you brassica, in the form of cauliflower. The sauce is vegan and contains no butter.

• 5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

• 2 cups dry white wine

• 1⁄4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 2 cups extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 pinch carrageenan or xanthan gum

• Chili flakes, to taste

• Fresh parsley, to taste, plus more to garnish

• Salt, to taste

• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• Capers, to taste

• 2 pickled cherry peppers, with 2 tablespoons brine

Cook the garlic in the white wine, and boil off the alcohol. Add lemon juice and olive oil, remove from heat, and emulsify with a whisk. Add xanthan gum, and whisk until slightly thickened, to the consistency of warm butter. Season with chili flakes, fresh chopped parsley, salt, and pepper. Dice a few capers and the cherry peppers, and add to taste. Finish with the pickle brine. This will make more sauce than you need, but it holds well in the refrigerator for a week.

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 pound cauliflower, cut into florets

• 1⁄2 pound fresh kelp

In a large sauté pan over very high heat, heat the olive oil and the cauliflower in one layer. When the cauliflower has softened slightly and browned, add kelp “noodles” and toss to combine. Remove from heat, and add 1 cup of the scampi sauce, so that the kelp and cauliflower are well coated. Add chopped fresh parsley, and serve immediately.

Excerpted from EAT LIKE A FISH by Bren Smith. Copyright © 2019 by Bren Smith. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.