What to do with cauliflower?

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I am so glad you liked it Corinne and thank you for pointing out that error. I have fixed it in my original post so that anyone else who comes along will have the correct instructions. Thanks again :)
 
I know I'm arriving late to this party, but one thing I've learned over many many years of cooking is to never never ever take recipe times too seriously.

To be perfectly honest, I don't think I've EVER had a printed recipe time ring true, & after realizing that, always do my cooking via eye/taste/texture.
 
Cauliflower? Ah yes, a delicious vegetable. Some like it, some hate it, as I've just read!
I love it any way you care to serve it, but my favourites are
1) Cauliflower Cheese - that's English Comfort Food, mashed with potatoes, Cheddar cheese, salt, & pepper, sprinkled with breadcrumbs and baked in the oven.
2) Alla Siciliana - I really don't know whether cauliflowers grow in Sicily, but you cut the cauli into florets, add about 6 large cloves of garlic, a chopped hot pepper, a good dash of virgin oil,salt and a little water. Bring to a boil in a saucepan then lower to minimum and close with a tight-fitting lid. Cook for about 25 minutes until the cauli falls apart.
3) Tempura or Pakora - sliced thin then deep fried.
4) Any way you like, Indian style! There's a delicious Maharashtran recipe somewhere which is basically steamed potato, cauli and fresh peas with coconut, asafoetida, mustard seeds and a dash of sugar. OOOoohh!

Andy? I understand. Give me a rib-eye steak and see what I do with it...:ROFLMAO:
 
Break into flowerettes, boil for about 5 minutes. Drain, cool, then just before serving dip in egg, then bread crumbs. Fry in corn oil on medium heat turning til golden brown. (The oil does make a difference.)
My kids and grandkids beg me to make this no matter what else I'm serving. My husband couldn't get enough. They are awesome!!!!
 
mish said:
Cover it with cheese, wrap it up, give it to a friend, and say "It's a cheese ball." :LOL:


LOL!!!! Mish, you are too funny and my exact sentiments, only I wouldn't do that to a friend. Ha! HOWEVER---hubby and I took the plunge in Egypt and ate at a wonderful Indian restaurant that had their own version of an Outback restaurant style of a blooming onion (aka awesome blossom) only it was a blooming cauliflower. They apparently had marinated it, dipped it into some light batter and then deep fried it and served it with a sauce. It was to die for it was so good!!!! The only cauliflower that I've ever been able to eat and it was gone in minutes.:-p
 
I love cauliflower any way, but like it best as cauliflower cheese with the cheese sauce to dip new boiled potatoes in. Like it raw too.
 
Love Cauli and Blue Cheese cream soup, or with a mix of broccoli in same soup. Also do a gorgeous Yellow Spiced Cauliflower Soup.

Dress just warm cauliflower that has been cooked past al dente, but not collapsing, with EVOO, red wine vinegar, S&P and lots of Italian parsley

Cauliflower Fritters

1/2 lge Cauliflower
60g Flour
2 eggs
40g each cheddar & Gruyere cheese grated
1 tbsp Lemon juice
1/2 tsp grd nutmeg
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp cumin seeds, roasted & crushed
1 clove garlic, peeled & crushed
salt & fresh milled white pepper
500ml vege oil for frying


Cut cauliflower into even sized florets, boil in salted water until tender 5-7mins, Drain & pat dry with absorbent paper.
Finely chop the cooked cauliflower
Make a batter with the flour, eggs & lemon juice, then add cheeses, nutmeg, chilli, cumin Make a batter with the flour, eggs & lemon juice, then add cheeses, nutmeg, chilli, cumin & garlic. Season to taste. Add the chopped cauliflower to the batter and leave to rest for 30mins
Heat oil in a heavy based saucepan or deep fryer
Spoon mixture into hot vege oil and cook for 3-4 mins until they turn a deep brown colour and cheese is melted.

Makes 16 fritters


Gotta eat a rainbow every day and this much maligned vege is part of the rainbow! Good to see how many love it here! Yaaaaaah peeps! :) :)
 
FryBoy said:
...Of course, some have had it cooked right and still hate it, but I suspect they survive on bologna and Wonder Bread...

So, I'm a culinary neanderthal because I don't like what you like? I don't think so.
 
licia said:
I suppose since some veggies have been cooked to mush in the past, it isn't easy to try them. Cauliflower and broccoli are both delicious done right!
I agree, Licia! that's true for almost any vegetable (except rutabaga!, imo) my big beef about both broc anc cauli, is that people serve them RAW, and I think they are totaly inedible that way.

I don't need to cover either of them in sauce, cheese or other disguises, but I don't like either of them raw, at all.
 
I know, I know - I'm committing the almost original sin by not reading all the posts BUT Andy and BigDog are cracking me up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love to break into smallish pieces and roast in a very hot oven. I love to roast cauliflower, broccoli, grape tomatoes, beets, mushrooms, WHATEVER, and serve tossed with pasta (like penne) drizzled in olive oil.

I also like to cook until pretty much done (about 10 oz. - just like a box of frozen for a reference point in quantity) and mix with 1 cup of sour cream, salt, and pepper (lots of pepper). Place in casserole dish and crumble saltine crackers on top and dot with butter - 350° for 30 minutes.

I love, love, love to make cauliflower just as you would mashed potatoes. It's one of those low carb dishes that you can still lessen the fat in and still have a great flavor!

There comes a point when we know what we like and what we don't. I think Andy and BigDog have convinced me they don't like cauliflower and I wouldn't convince them otherwise!!!! For them there is no "right" way and that's OK in my book. If you come to my house Andy and BigDog the cauliflower will be long gone - we'll have steaks and........ ..and........... ..and... .......... .tequila!!!!!! :cool: (or vodka, or mojitos, or scotch, it'll be your night and your favorites). I won't even try to sneak it in a dessert!!!!!!!! :angel:
 
kitchenelf said:
...If you come to my house Andy and BigDog the cauliflower will be long gone - we'll have steaks and........ ..and........... ..and... .......... .tequila!!!!!! :cool: (or vodka, or mojitos, or scotch, it'll be your night and your favorites)...

Sounds like a balanced meal to me!
 
Cauliflower and True Love

If you remember this thread, you remember how I feel about the subject veggie.

For a while now, SO has been following a low-carb diet in an attempt to lose a few extra pounds. She borrowed a book from a friend titled, 500 Low-Carb Recipes, by Dana Carpender. She was looking for recipes I could make for her for low-carb meals. I, of course, told her I'd make whatever she wanted.

No good deed goes unpunished. She chose a cauliflower dish! I gulped and tried to change her mind, distract her, make her forget, suggest something else, bribe her, all to no avail. She wanted Smoky Cauliflower and Sausage.

OK, I relented and made it yesterday. It's mashed steamed cauliflower, combined with cream cheese, cooked Italian sausage and sliced smoked Gouda baked in a casserole.

The smell was horrific. Now you don't have to tell me I overcooked it and that's why it smelled. I know. I had to cook it so it was soft enough to mash. I can be thankful for Oust.

Well, she loved it. I guess I earned a few points by making it (or erased some of the minus points I seem to get all the time).

How did it taste? It had cream cheese, smoked Gouda and Italian sausage in it, how do you think it tasted? As Emeril says, "You could put that stuff on a bumper and it would taste good!". Please pass the bumper.
 
This is very good. It contains an ingredient from one of the basic food groups...garlic.

Cauliflower with Aoli
(4 side-dish servings)

1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, mashed through a press
Pinch cayenne
1 cauliflower, about 1 1/2 lbs. after trimming
2 bay leaves

In a small bowl combine the olive oil, garlic and cayenne.

Make sure the stem of the cauliflower is trimmed short, so it sits flat. Set the whole cauliflower into a 9-inch glass pie dish and use a pastry brush to "paint" on the olive oil mixture.

Pour about 1/4 cup water around the cauliflower and float the bay leaves in it. Cover the entier dish with vented plastic wrap and microwave on HIGH until the cauliflower is just tender, about 8 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes. Quarter the cauliflower and serve warm or very slightly chilled.
 
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Andy M. said:
If you remember this thread, you remember how I feel about the subject veggie.

For a while now, SO has been following a low-carb diet in an attempt to lose a few extra pounds. She borrowed a book from a friend titled, 500 Low-Carb Recipes, by Dana Carpender. She was looking for recipes I could make for her for low-carb meals. I, of course, told her I'd make whatever she wanted.

No good deed goes unpunished. She chose a cauliflower dish! I gulped and tried to change her mind, distract her, make her forget, suggest something else, bribe her, all to no avail. She wanted Smoky Cauliflower and Sausage.

OK, I relented and made it yesterday. It's mashed steamed cauliflower, combined with cream cheese, cooked Italian sausage and sliced smoked Gouda baked in a casserole.

The smell was horrific. Now you don't have to tell me I overcooked it and that's why it smelled. I know. I had to cook it so it was soft enough to mash. I can be thankful for Oust.

Well, she loved it. I guess I earned a few points by making it (or erased some of the minus points I seem to get all the time).

How did it taste? It had cream cheese, smoked Gouda and Italian sausage in it, how do you think it tasted? As Emeril says, "You could put that stuff on a bumper and it would taste good!". Please pass the bumper.

Let's do a deal, Andy. You send me your delicious cauliflower by Fedex, and I'll return a plate of wood-grilled Top Rump which is almost as gross as roadkill (to me)... my family LOVES it!!!
 
OOOHHHH!! include a little plate of each to me guys!! Pretty please!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll get busy baking bread for you both!!!!
 
Andy M. said:
...It's mashed steamed cauliflower, combined with cream cheese, cooked Italian sausage and sliced smoked Gouda baked in a casserole...

Andy? This sounds all kinds of wonderful, but ... slimming? Where?!

Cauliflower makes great "keftedes" (meatless meatballs? fritters? for the life of me I'm not sure in what category these fit!) -- cooked, including the exterior greens if you can get them, then flaked, add in some flour, an egg or two, and some seasonings, then make them into balls (as ball-y as you can get, that is) and fry them in a bit of olive oil.

Bloody lovely. Thick (Greek, need I say?) yogurt over the top is even better.
 
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