Savory Cauliflower Rice
I have been dreaming up all sorts of ways to substitute cauliflower for rice and got the idea to try sauteing it with a bit of onion, garlic, and broth and using as a side for fish (and Brussels sprouts). This was a very excellent idea, the cauliflower was fluffy and soaked up a lot of the flavor from the broth. My next attempt, I think, is to try and make Spanish rice with cauliflower. Eeep!
Savory Cauliflower Rice
1-2 TB olive oil
1/4 onion, minced super tiny
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 section green bell pepper, diced
1/2 head cauliflower, rough chop
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1 TB apple cider vinegar
1 TB salt, 1-2 teaspoons ground black pepper
Other seasonings as desired (chives, thyme, oregano, dry mustard, cumin seeds, etc. Whatever strikes your fancy.)
Using food processor or one of these things turn the cauliflower chunks into a coarse meal that resembles chunky rice. Heat olive oil in medium skillet, when oil is hot (not smoking) saute onion, garlic, and pepper until soft (2-3 minutes). Add cauliflower, broth, and seasonings. Turn heat to high and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until all liquid is evaporated (10 minutes or so). Splash with vinegar, taste, and adjust seasonings and salt as necessary. Turn heat to low until ready to serve.
Makes 2 servings.
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Slivered Almonds
A few weeks ago a couple of friends met J-Mo and I at a small, organic restaurant in our neighborhood. As we were looking at the menu, D., my old roommate, mentioned that their Brussels sprouts starter was absolutely delicious, each couple ordered their own plate. Twenty minutes later when the plates arrived, filling most of the empty space on the table, D. remarked “You realize that is $25 dollars worth of Brussels sprouts, right?”
They were worth it! I’ve only had boiled Brussels sprouts, but roasting them until the outside leaves are a little charred and crispy brings out a sweetness in the sprout that you don’t get by boiling them. I immediately decided to try and recreate this appetizer and I think I have had fairly good success!
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Slivered Almonds
Olive oil
1/4-1/2 white onion, sliced thin, rings quartered
1/2 lb. Brussels sprouts, washed
3/4 cup slivered (or sliced) almonds
salt and pepper
2-3 TB apple cider vinegar
Trim and halve the sprouts, toss with olive oil, onion, and almonds. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and season generously with salt and pepper. Roast 45-60 minutes, stirring every 15-20 minutes, until sprouts are to desired roastiness. Splash with 2-3 TB apple cider vinegar and serve hot.
Makes 4 servings.
Cauliflower-rice Artichoke curry
Prepare to have your taste buds blown off! I have been trying to cut unnecessary carbohydrates from my diet, I have attempted to use cauliflower to replace pizza crust with fairly decent success, but I had a flash of brilliance and decided to use itty bitty bits of cauliflower in place of basmati rice in a recipe I have made (and loved) several times. I also tweaked the sauce a little and Oh. My. Laws. This was so amazing! I think start to finish it took less than 2o minutes. Recommended! Of course, I have to shorten the name somehow, and Caulichoke Curry is the one that has stuck! Catchy, rice?
(Also? It’s tricky to get photos of any type of curry, let alone at 8:30 pm with no natural light to be had. But, I knew I wouldn’t have leftovers to photograph the next day, so bad-photo curry it is!)
Cauliflower-rice Artichoke Curry (Caulichoke Curry)
Adapted from Pinch My Salt
1/2 head cauliflower, riced and steamed (see below)
1 chicken breast or pork chip, cooked and shredded or diced
2 TB olive oil
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1/4-1/2 onion, minced (I also do this in that handy-dandy veggie chopper)
1/2 red pepper, diced
14 oz. can artichoke hearts, drained, rough chop
1 teaspoon salt
(optional: handful of sliced almonds, toasted or not)
1/2 cup light mayo
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 TB curry powder
1 teaspoon brown sugar (I used 1 Splenda packet)
1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
You can “rice” it in a food processor or with one of these thingies (which is what I have), basically you want to get the florets to resemble rice or chunky meal. I put all that “rice” in a glass bowl and without adding water put it in the microwave for 7-8 minutes. There is enough liquid in the cauliflower to steam it up quite nicely.
While rice is steaming start your meat on the George Foreman and chop up your onion, garlic, and red pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet on high heat, add cumin seeds and stir until fragrant (1-2 minutes), add onion and stir until soft & translucent. Add red pepper and cauli-rice and cook off as much liquid as you can, you want a mealy texture. (I stirred it around on high for about 5-6 minutes). Add artichoke hearts and cooked meat, remove from heat.
Stir together the mayo, yogurt, curry, sugar and cayenne. Fold into rice mixture until coated. Eat warm or cold, but probably warm because you’ll want to eat this immediately.
This made enough for dinner for 2, but would be super easy to double for a larger meal or for more leftovers. (I totally wish I had more leftovers.)
Enjoy!
Spaghetti Squash Pizza Bake
When J-Mo and I got married my sister-in-law gave me a cookbook binder of some of their family’s favorite recipes, one of them is called “Spaghetti Bake” and is basically a mixture of pizza and spaghetti. You cook the pasta noodles and then put them in a 9×13 and top with pizza sauce, mozzarella, and pizza toppings (pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, etc). It is delicious as is, but I wondered if I could do the same thing with spaghetti squash, so I threw one in the oven to roast and started hunting for some delicious toppings. I came up with artichoke hearts, diced ham, tomatoes, bell peppers, sweet onion, garlic, olives, and goat cheese. This is, perhaps, one of my new favorite meals. (I still put pepperoni on J-Mo’s half because he LOVES pepperoni; I could go the rest of my life without pepperoni and be A-Okay.)
Now, this is not a quick meal if you’re making it start to finish when you get home from work. But, I have started roasting the squash and adding the toppings the day before, let the pan sit in the fridge overnight, and then toss it in the oven for 35-40 minutes for a delicious meal by 6:00 that reheats beautifully in the microwave. My freezer isn’t big enough to hold freezer meals, so I don’t know how this would turn out if you made it and froze it for later. Because it is just J-Mo and I at home I only used half of a spaghetti squash in an 8×8 pan, you could easily double this recipe in a 9×13 for your whole family or lots of leftovers.
Spaghetti Squash Pizza Bake
Pre-heat oven to 350*
1 spaghetti squash, roasted (see below)
Slice spaghetti squash in half the long way, scoop out the seeds. Place halves sliced-side down on a rimmed baking sheet or in a roasting pan, add about an inch of water and bake for 35-40 minutes. When the squash has cooled a bit drag a fork the length of one half of the squash and scoop the noodles into an 8×8 pan. (You can keep the other half of the noodles in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week.)
Top spaghetti squash with:
3/4 – 1 cup of pizza sauce (the squash has a lot of liquid in it, so use a thicker tomato sauce instead of a regular spaghetti/pasta sauce)
1 cup of mozzarella (more if you like it extra cheesy)
Then add your favorite pizza toppings, I chose the following:
1 14 oz. can of artichoke hearts, chopped into quarters
About a cup of diced ham
Handful of sliced onion, green or yellow, caramelized or not
1-3 cloves garlic, diced or sliced, roasted or not
2 sections minced bell pepper (any color, I used red or yellow)
Big handful sliced olives
2-3 sliced mushrooms
Diced tomato
Goat cheese, don’t be stingy with the goat cheese
Oregano and ground black pepper
Either cover and let sit in the fridge overnight until you’re ready to bake, or put back in the oven immediately for 35-40 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and delicious and the top is getting a nice golden-brown color. I needed to add some salt to mine before I ate it, spaghetti squash is a big, fat, vegetable and needs a bit of savory goodness to bring out it’s best flavors. However, depending on what toppings you have your needed salt quotient will probably drastically change. So, taste it and add at the end instead of trying to salt it at the beginning, go overboard, and end up with artichoke-goat cheese brine.
I’m sure you could use any other pizza toppings you like: sausage, pepperoni, wilty spinach, ricotta, roasted zucchini, pineapple (if you can handle fruit on pizza), BBQ chicken, crumbled bacon, sun dried tomatoes, salami, gouda, gorgonzola, harvarti or another delicious cheese…the topping ideas are really endless!
Stuffed Mushrooms
This delicious appetizer is sort of a family tradition for things like birthday parties, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving…basically any time my siblings get together someone brings stuffed mushrooms. They are a little bit of heaven. The last time I made these I added a handful or two of fresh spinach sliced into skinny ribbons and used Gruyere cheese because that’s what I had in the fridge. Oh. My! They were amazing! So amazing, in fact, that I got out my big, fancy camera and decided to photograph them for you instead of eat them all immediately. You’re welcome.
Stuffed Mushrooms
Preheat oven to 300*
1 lb. Italian sausage (I use mild, you could use hot if you’re adventurous), crumbled and browned
1 bunch green onions, diced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz. Neufatchel or cream cheese, softened
1-2 cups grated Gruyere or Harvarti cheese (or cheddar, if that’s what you have)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon black ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-2 handfuls of fresh spinach, shredded into ribbons (optional)
1-1.5 lbs. crimini or button mushrooms, de-stemmed and washed.
Put the Italian sausage into a good sized skillet and let that brown up nicely. I always add the garlic and onion while the sausage is browning to soften them up a little bit. While that is browning you’ll need to de-stem the mushrooms. Pop the stem out, and with a small melon baller or a sturdy (metal) teaspoon scoop out a little more of the insides – the filling is much tastier than the mushroom, make a little nest in each mushroom to capitalize on the filling-mushroom ratio. You can either toss the part you scoop out, or you can toss it into the filling (I add it as I scoop it while the meat is browning).
When your sausage is cooked, let cool a bit and pat dry with a paper towel. Stir in the Neufchatel and grated cheese, add nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Stir in the spinach and combine well.( You can keep this in the fridge for a week or two and fill a few mushrooms at a time for lunch ro snacks or whatever. Or you can use the whole batch for a party. If that’s your plan, please continue reading.) While the mixture is still warm, scoop it into the mushrooms. Now, if you are putting these in a glass pan like a 9×13 or other casserole dish, you need to fill it up with as many mushrooms as will fit and then bake for 30-40 minutes, until the cheese is nice and melty. If you put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment spaced a bit farther apart you only have to cook them for 15 minutes or so. Keep an eye on them, if they get too cooked the cheese will melt completely and run out of the bottom of the mushrooms leaving a crusty sauce on the bottom of the pan that your guests will have a much more difficult time appreciating than if that delicious cheese stayed inside the mushroom and, ergo, ended up in a mouth. Just sayin’.
heidikins cooks 