Book Nook: Cauliflower gets a makeover in book
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If you're a fan of pizza and not gluten, you've surely heard that cauliflower can be used as a pizza crust instead of the usual gluten crust.
But cauliflower can be used in much more and that is what the book "Cauliflower Power" by Lindsay Grimes Freedman aims to introduce to home cooks: 75 recipes that take cauliflower from humble beginning to new heights.
Grimes, a former attorney turned food blogger after her husband's diabetes diagnosis, she has a YouTube channel and Instagram and also writes for many major media outlets.
The recipes are divided into six chapters: Breakfast, Lunch, Happy Hour, Dinner, Sides and Desserts. Every recipe includes cauliflower.
Breakfasts include recipes for Trail Mix Breakfast Cookies, Cinnamon-Sugar Blueberry Muffins and Cauliflower Tots.
Lunch includes dishes like Mediterranean Salad with Kale Pesto, California Roll with Cauliflower Sticky Rice and Sweet Potato Noodles with Cauliflower Carbonara Sauce.
Happy Hour includes recipes for Vegan Queso, Caramelized Onion Cauliflower Hummus and Buffalo Cauliflower Wings.
Dinner dishes offer Tuna Poke Bowls with Cauliflower Rice, Garlic-Herb Butter Gnocchi and One-Pan Lemon Sage Chicken and Cauliflower.
Sides include recipes for Garlic Naan, The Best Cauliflower Mash and Cheddar-Jalapeno Cauliflower Biscuits.
Desserts end things with Vanilla Caramel Pudding, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Squares and Chunky Chai White Chocolate Cookies.
My family doesn't particularly like cauliflower, so I told them one evening I was making Thai Curry Meatballs to try to help my husband and I get over the colds we had. The turkey meatballs had cauliflower rice in them for a binding agent and cooked in a Thai sauce, and then were served over noodles I got in the Thai foods section of the grocery store.
Because I told everyone it would be spicy, they were more centered on that and said it wasn't spicy enough for them. I thought it was pretty good, but if I made it again, I'd add more red curry paste. However, no one tasted the cauliflower at all. In fact, my daughter who hates turkey burgers, said she thought the cauliflower might have helped the taste of the meatballs. They were eating my weird diet food, don't tell them!
If you'd like to try a recipe for yourself, what follows is Double Chocolate Granola Parfait. There is a lot of variety for home cooks to try, ranging from foods where you'd expect cauliflower, to the unexpected.
"Cauliflower Power" is published by Artisan, a division of Workman Publishing. It is $19.95.
Contact Amy Phelps at aphelps@newsandsentinel.com
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Double-Chocolate Granola Parfait Cups
(Excerpted from Cauliflower Power by Lindsay Grimes Freedman (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2019.)
Double-chocolate oat-free granola may sound decadent, but it's a nutrient-dense way to start your day. Hemp hearts are a slightly nutty-tasting, plant-based protein that is easy to incorporate into your daily routine. The protein punch is nicely balanced with the flax seeds, which give you a good dose of fiber and omega-3 fatty acids.
Makes 3 cups;
serves 4 to 6
For the Granola:
1½ cups (182 g) chopped raw pecans
1 cup (175 g) chopped raw hazelnuts
¼ cup (21 g) unsweetened shredded coconut
¼ cup (40 g) hemp hearts
¼ cup (40 g) flax seeds
¼ cup (40 g) coconut sugar
¼ cup (24 g) cocoa powder
1½ cups (158 g) cauliflower rice (see page 18)
¼ cup (60 g) ghee (see Note)
¼ cup (64 g) natural peanut butter (see Note)
¼ cup (83 g) agave nectar
(see Note)
½ cup (87 g) 60% cacao dark chocolate chips
For the Parfait:
3 cups (735 g) whole-milk yogurt
Banana slices (optional)
Fresh berries (optional)
3 tablespoons natural
peanut butter (optional)
Position racks in the middle and top of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine the pecans, hazelnuts, coconut, hemp hearts, flax seeds, coconut sugar, and cocoa powder. Add the cauliflower rice and stir until well combined.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the ghee, peanut butter, and agave nectar. Once the sauce is well mixed and has thickened a bit, about 2 minutes, remove from the heat.
Pour the peanut sauce over the nut and seed mixture and fold in the sauce until everything is completely coated.
Spread the wet granola mixture in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Don't worry if it's a bit clumpy; the clumps will end up becoming delicious clusters.
Bake for 15 minutes, then use a spatula to gently stir the granola. Bake for another 7 minutes, or until the granola feels dry.
Move the baking sheet to the top rack and turn off the oven, keeping the door shut. Allow the granola to dry out and cool completely for about 30 minutes. Once it has cooled to room temperature, remove the granola from the oven and stir in the chocolate chips.
Assemble the parfaits: Layer the granola and yogurt in a parfait glass or cup. Top with your choice of bananas, fresh berries, or a dab of peanut butter. The granola will keep for up to 1 week stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
Note: You can substitute ingredients based on what you have on hand or what you prefer. Peanut butter can be replaced with almond butter or another nut butter, you can use Greek yogurt or nondairy yogurt instead of whole-milk yogurt, and agave nectar can easily be replaced with honey or maple syrup. Ghee is clarified butter, but you can use regular butter or coconut oil.
Note: Both agave nectar and coconut nectar are low-glycemic sweeteners that you can use in place of traditional sugar. If you aren't concerned with the glycemic index, honey or maple syrup works just as well.