Cleaning out the fridge prompts creativity

I still had cauliflower in my fridge- the funky, conical, green, and a standard white- and needed to make some room for all the pies, cheesecakes, sides and so forth that will need a cold home tomorrow, so I chopped them into florets, roasted with olive oil, Meyer lemon zest, garlic, salt and white pepper and in the meantime caramelized some shallots. Nancy Silverton's recipe for caramelizing is my favorite (I just posted it). She uses olive oil and then adds a hefty amount of balsamic; as it reduces, it sweetens, and is a perfect complement to the oil-slicked shallot slivers. My reasoning behind the shallots was that if I roasted the cauliflower and tossed them with a cheese intermediary and then topped it all with the shallots, might that be nice? In my preliminary taste test, Gruyère was (surprisingly to me) lost. Bûcheron was a delicious addition, and crème fraîche added the perfect degree of sauciness but the tang was a bit much for the other flavors.

I did end up making fresh ricotta yesterday (more fridge cleaning; get rid of the cream! the buttermilk!) so might broil that and the cauliflower quickly for one last test, but so far, the Bûcheron wins!