I sometimes wonder why I bore so easily. I managed to stay married to the same guy for 37 years. Stayed in the same career for 36 (although I went up and down in grades and in and out of the classroom.) Furniture, wall color, dishes, glasses, garden flowers, all get dumped, tossed, changed, updated too often according to my husband.) And, when it comes to food, especially veggies, I just gotta mess with them. Now don't get me wrong, I love just about any veggie any way. But I do get tired of making the same steamed or roasted etc. veggie every night. So I am always looking for a different way to make the veggie side. I know I have made this dish before but given the nods of approval last night, I think I nailed it. And once again, I have to thank Trevor for making me write this down so now I can replicate it. (Kinda...)
I think that the cauliflower is an under appreciated vegetable. I like to finely dice it and make it into a salad. Yum! I steam it and put a lemon brown butter sauce on it. I also just like it roasted with a touch of salt and lime juice. But admittedly, it's not my go to veggie. BUT...now I think that has changed. I agree that I did add a potato to this dish but I am making it again w/o the potato. I also think this presentation is pretty healthy and there are many ways to change it up. No Mexican "crema" use Greek yogurt. No Greek yogurt use sour cream. No potatoes, use the boxed flakes. Although I don't advocate using dehydrated potato flakes, this might be the one exception. (BTW, I do use these flakes to thicken my soups sometimes...works great!) I think you could even use buttermilk. No goat cheese, (but this does taste so good) use any other white melting cheese. I suppose if you like garlic mashed potatoes you could cook the cauliflower and potatoes with a few cloves of garlic. I also think if tangy is not your thing, you could substitute butter and cream or milk. I would go with a mild jack cheese. You could spice this up in many ways too. For example; cook a diced chili in with the veggies and use a pepper jack cheese. I think just about anything you would normally do with a mashed potato you could do it with this dish.So think of the cauliflower as a blank palate and you can add layers of flavors and textures. I don't think you can go wrong. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 medium sized cauliflower no brown spots. Broken apart into florets
2 med. sized peeled russet potatoes cut into chunky quarters (3/4 size of your hand)
2 bay leaves
4-6 cups of chicken broth (enough to cover the cauliflower and potatoes)
(You can also use those flavored cubes pre mixed and diluted in hot water.)
white pepper/kosher salt (no salt if you use those cubes)
3 oz of goat cheese
1/4 cup of "Mexican Crema" comes in a jar or sour cream or buttermilk
about 2 cups or so of the liquid you drain from cooking the cauliflower This will depend on your personal preference.
Garnish with chives and parsley
1) Place the potatoes, cauliflower bay leaves and broth into a pot. Make sure veggies are covered with the broth.
2) Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover with a lid. Cook on a med. low heat for about 10-12 min. until veggies are tender and soft.
3) Drain liquid but save at least 2 cups. Remove the bay leaves.
4) Put potatoes and cauliflower back into the pot and begin to mash. Use some of the reserved liquid to make this process easier.
5) Add the goat cheese and "crema" by folding in each until incorporated. Add more liquid if you want a smoother mash.
6) Garnish with the chives and or parsley.
Made at least 6 servings.
No comments:
Post a Comment