Showing posts with label Cauliflower. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cauliflower. Show all posts

Monday, October 26, 2015

Herbed Vegetable Sticks

Ingredients:
  • 1 bag Green Giant Fresh® Cauliflower Crumbles (16 ounces of chopped cauliflower)
  • 1/4 cup egg whites
  • 1/2 cup + 3/4 cup (for topping) Italian mix shredded cheese
  • 4 leaves fresh sage
  • 6-8 stems fresh thyme (leaves)
  • 1 large or two medium stems of rosemary (leaves)
  • 1-2 large dollops of Gourmet Gardens® Minced Garlic
  • 1/2 tablespoon McCormack's® Peppercorn Medley
  • 1/2 teaspoon Redmond's® Real Salt
  • Marinara sauce for dipping (optional)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.


Directions:

In a mini-food prep or regular processor, pulse the cauliflower into tiny crumbs ("rice" texture).  Place in a container (such as a pyrex bowl) and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

While the cauliflower is cooking, mince the fresh herbs together and set aside.

Line a bowl with a flour sack towel and dump the cauliflower atop the towel.  Gather the edges together so that the cauliflower forms a ball in the center of the towel.  Twist the gathered cloth until the liquid from the cauliflower come out from the bottom of the towel.  The size of the ball of cauliflower will shrink by about half if you do a good job of squeezing!

Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees.

Empty the cauliflower from the towel back into the mixing bowl.  Add egg whites, 1/2 cup cheese, garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper.  Mix thoroughly.

Pat the cauliflower mixture into a rectangular shape, approximately 1/4 inch thick (perhaps 9x7 or 10x8) on a baking sheet.  Place in the middle rack of the oven and bake until golden brown on top.  The original recipe stated 18 minutes, but it took me 24 minutes.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and top with 3/4 cup cheese (or enough to make a complete layer of cheese on top).  Return to the oven and bake an additional 5 minutes.

Slice in half lengthwise and then make strips.  Serve with warm marinara sauce if desired.


Myrtle's Note:  These are originally titled "breadsticks," but they are not bread in any fashion.  So, I took the liberty, for my peace of mind, to just change the title to something that was more fitting.  Not owning a regular food processor, I started not with a head of cauliflower, but with a bag of chopped cauliflower.  [In case you are considering it, do not try to pulse cauliflower in a NutriBullet.]  The recipe intrigued me, even though the idea of using cauliflower did not sound very palatable to me.  I liked how they turned out.  I did not have marinara sauce, but I could imagine they would be good with that as the original recipe suggests.  I think was made them more tasty in my mind is that I switched from Italian herbs to fresh rosemary, thyme, and sage.  And I added garlic.  So, really, I essentially tweaked the recipe to fit my own tastes.  Finally, I will note that I cooked them on a baking stone, not being a parchment paper person.  They did stick a bit, but I think part of that is because I needed to do a better job of squeezing out the liquid from the cooked cauliflower.  Not being a bread maker at all, I am unsure as to which type of baking surfaces are best.  I might try metal next time.  Because they were a bit soft on the bottom, after moving them to the cooling rack, I returned them to the oven for an additional 2 minutes.


Yield:  16 sticks.

Adapted from:  http://ifoodreal.com/cauliflower-breadsticks-recipe/




Friday, January 31, 2014

Smoky Roasted Cauliflower

Ingredients:
  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • Smoked Paprika
  • Olive oil
  • Sea salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.


Directions:

Cut up the cauliflower head.  If you are not like me (hating stems), cut the stems so that you create flat planes, which will help caramelize the stems.  Cut the florets on planes as well.

Place in a bowl or large measuring cup and drizzle with olive oil.  Turn over and over with a spatula until evenly coated, but not drenched.  Do this in batches if needed.  You will use more olive oil than you will for broccoli, so don't worry about that.  You want them to glisten a bit.

Place the large pieces on the pan and set aside all the small bits that break off.  I have found, in cutting up cauliflower, that if you stick a knife in the stem and twist it, the floret will split without small bits falling off.

Coat the cauliflower with a generous layering of smoked paprika and sea salt.  First, I put a small pinch of salt on each single floret.  Then, I shook the paprika over each floret.  You want to be really generous in this.  I thought for sure it would come out too salty, but it did not.

Roast in the oven for 15 minutes.  Whilst roasting, oil and season the broken off bits.  Then, add them to the pan and roast for an additional 15-25 minutes.  You want crispy, but not burned.


Myrtle's Note:  Frankly, I am not really wanting to be a cauliflower person, but I am trying to broaden my horizons.  Frankly, the resulting roasting, even after an additional 10 minutes, was more akin to  steamed than roasted.  So, I upped the temperature to match how I roast broccoli.  And, frankly, I completely ignored the directions as to how much olive oil and paprika.  I like to put my broccoli in a large measuring cup with olive oil and toss it so it gets a good coating, yet thin, all over.  Then I sprinkled on the spices.  The author was right in that being liberal in salting it is a good thing. I was liberal, for me, but still needed more.  So, I took off the recommended measurements.  Be brave.  Be bold.  Season away.

Yield:  4 servings


Adapted from:  http://theshiksa.com/2011/12/06/smoky-roasted-cauliflower/