Poached and Roasted Cauliflower

Raise your hand if you love cauli!!!!! It is SO versatile! I've found lately that I have been more making things like Cauli rice and couscous, cauli patties etc... and tbh - I am SO sick of finding tiny cauliflower granules allllll over the kitchen haha. So I decided the other day I would try something different.  

Admittedly I got the idea from a lady at Wholefood Merchants in Ferntree Gully - and I tried it and thought... yeah not too shabby! BUT could be better! So I did a little tweaking ( I accidentally wrote twerking the first time haha ) and the end result is absolutely deliciously amazing.  

Because we are eating the whole cauli - Leaves and all! And yes, that includes the stalk! PLEASE buy organic!!!!!!!! The last thing you need is to be influxing your poor liver with chemicals and pesticides! So Please, buy organic. I'll say it one more time... Please! 

Now if you're a vegan and you miss cheese, I think you especially will love this recipe (please omit the ghee for a fat of choice like flaxseed oil) it kind of reminds me of cauliflower and cheese sauce from when I was younger - however since dairy is the devil, there's been a need to search for cheesy goodness elsewhere...without the food additives like the bio cheese or Daiya has!

So without further adue - here's introducing Nutritional Yeast! 

For those of you that haven't yet entered the realm of Nutritional Yeast, I highly recommend you do. ESPECIALLY if you have just come off dairy and are missing the cheesy goodness. It kind of reminds me of Parmesan... but without the ten day old dirty sock smell!  Nutritional Yeast is so good for you and contains some really essential vitamins and minerals. It is a really great protein, so fantastic for vegans and vegetarians alike, and especially good for those following a Ketogenic Paleo diet. And also has Magnesium, Copper and Manganese, Fibre, Thiamine, Riboflavin, Niacin, B6, Folate, B12, Zinc and Panthothenic Acid. <-- see, I used a big word so it must be good for you!

When it comes to your poaching liquid, make sure that the vegetable stock you use, actually contains vegetables. I have noticed some on the shelves lately that say things like "Extract"... um no mr marketing man! I want real vegetables in my stock please. If you can and you aren't too time poor (or perhaps you are super organised and have some pre made) make your own stock. It's an awesome way to utilize your left over fruits and veg and herbs and at least you know what's in it! 

So I realllllly think you will enjoy this recipe. It is beautiful as a main, although sometimes we have it as a side dish to a roast. It's super satisfying either way. 

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Recipe

Serves - 4 -

Time 1 hr 20 mins

What you need:

 1 Litre Vegetable Stock (pref. Organic) 

1 Large Cauliflower, leaves and stalk on 

3 Cloves Garlic 

3 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast 

1 Tablespoon Ghee or Olive oil for Vegan/Plant Based

Salt and Pepper to taste 

What to do: 

Find a saucepan that your whole cauliflower fits in and put the cauli in. Cover with your Stock. If 1 litre of stock isn't enough to cover your cauli, then top up with some water. Bring to a boil, then once boiling, turn to a low heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  

Once finished poaching using tongs, carefully lift the cauliflower out of the liquid and place onto a baking sheet that has a layer of tin foil. Don't throw away the poaching liquid - you can put this in a container into the fridge and use it again another day.  

On your poached cauli, add your Ghee ( Or Olive Oil ) , Nutritional Yeast and your Garlic. Don't worry about rubbing it in, the residual heat and the oven will melt the ghee and it will soak into the nooks and crannies. Season lightly and then bring the foil up the sides of the cauli and wrap at the top (so none of the liquid drains) 

Place in the oven for 20 minutes on 180 degrees. Take out of the oven and remove from foil, pour the juices over the top of the cauli and place back in the oven, uncovered for another 20 minutes to brown.  Pull out from the oven after twenty minutes and serve. 

This really is a delicious way of serving Cauli - let me know what you think in the comments below! 

Spicy Tomato, Mushroom and Basil Quinoa Pasta

As we near the end of winter, I find myself cooking as much comfort food as possible before the hot weather begins. To me, comfort food screams PASTA! Probably why I've blogged two pasta recipes in the same week. 

When I originally found out I was celiac.... I think I literally mourned the loss of normal pasta. That's not even joke. I was genuinely upset! That's quite amusing now that I look back on the time, because I found Quinoa pasta and I reckon without doubt it is soooo much more yummy! It has a sweeter flavour to it and I find it has a nice bite if its cooked properly. 

It has been so long since I've enjoyed a bolognese, and that was another thing I was really sad about when I stopped eating meat. Bolognese sauce. My god. That stuff goes good with everything. When I was younger and just moved out of home, I used to batch cook bolognese like it was going out of fashion. Sometimes I would cook that much of it that I'd run out of pasta. So I would use the sauce as a dip. Seems weird... but it will actually rock your world without word of a lie! Cucumber in particular is amazing! Especially if you cut a cucumber in half length ways and scoop out the seeds. It's like a little bolognese boat! Really good! Anyway! I'm getting off topic!

When the meat vanished from my life, I started to really search into how I can make delicious pasta sauces and to my amazement, there are SO many combinations you can do and so many amazing vibrant ways that you can flavour olive oil that makes pasta delicious! 

Once again, if you aren't good with Quinoa, then Sub for a different type of spaghetti like Zoodles. ORRRRR there is this brand of 'spaghetti' in the health food aisle at woollies ( I think the brand is slendier ) and the pasta is made out of Konjac which is a root vegetable. Keto lovers rejoice because its only 10 calories per serve which means it is SUPER low carb!

So on with it today (this is the second time I've written this recipe blog because the first time I accidentally deleted it) I really do hope you enjoy this recipe. It is one of my families faves!

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RECIPE

What you will need:

1/2 Pack Organic Quinoa Pasta (or Pasta of choice... NO GLUTEN...naughty naughty)

Good Quality Olive Oil on hand

4 Organic Tomatoes Quartered

1 Field Mushroom cut Chunky.

6-7 Fresh Basil Leaves chopped (dried just simply won't do)

Chilli Flakes

1 Small Onion diced

2 Cloves Organic AUSTRALIAN Garlic (2 cloves to me is like a bulb)

1/2 tablespoon Ghee

What to do:

Heat your pan and melt your half tablespoon of ghee

Saute your onion until translucent. I know you normally add Garlic here, but adding it at the end means it isn't as heat treated which keeps some of the benefits intact. 

While the Onion is cooking, put your water for your pasta in the pot and bring to a boil. Don't forget to season the water!

Once the onion is translucent, add your diced tomatoes and mushrooms. Sauté until the tomatoes are starting to break up. Add a little bit of water to deglaze the bottom of the pan if the food starts to catch. 

Once your water is boiling, add the pasta. 

To your sauce, add your chili flakes. Let cook for a few minutes to wake up the chilli. 

Add Garlic. Let cook for a couple of minutes and then turn off the heat. 

Once the heat is turned off, mix through the basil and add your olive oil. Enough to make it a sauce.

Once pasta is cooked, using tongs lift the pasta from the water and place in the pan of sauce. Don't worry about getting all the water off the pasta as the starch will combine with the oil and make the sauce a bit thicker and glossy.

eason with Salt & Pepper

Toss and Serve!