This is a great, quick, and simple vegetarian dish which could easily be used as a substitute for mashed potatoes. Broccoli would be a tasty alternative for the cauliflower.
I served it as a side dish with pork tenderloin with mustard-wine sauce along with sautéed kale.
This recipe is from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food by Mark Bittman. The consistency can easily be altered to personal preference. Delicious!
- coarse salt
- 1 large or 1-2 small heads of cauliflower, cored, trimmed, and separated into florets (I used 1 1/2 heads)
- 1 cup milk, plus more if needed (I used 1 percent)
- 2 T unsalted butter
- 2 cups grated white melting cheese such as Gruyère, cheddar, of Asiago
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- chopped parsley leaves for garnish, if desired
- Fill a large pot with water, put it on to boil, and salt it.
- Boil the cauliflower until very tender, about 15 minutes.
- Drain, reserving about one cup of the cooking water. Wipe the pot dry.
- Put the milk, butter, and cheese in the pot over medium-low heat.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper and the nutmeg. Cook, stirring occasionally to keep the mixture from sticking, until the cheese and butter start to melt, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Stir in the cauliflower and mash with a potato masher; stir well to combine. The mixture should be the consistency you like in mashed potatoes. If it’s not creamy enough, add a little of the cauliflower cooking water or more milk until it is.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning, garnish, and serve.
I love cauliflower in any form :).
It is tasty 🙂
gruyere is perfect for the mashed potatoes!
Gruyere is my favorite! Delish 🙂
For those who want to avoid potatoes, this is a wonderful replacement. I’ve never tried this, but would it make a complete meal with some toasted bread and maybe some soup?
It could be a vegetarian entree with some grains. It is pretty filling! 🙂 It was really good with the sautéed greens as well.
I make something quite similar and it’s awesome! There’s only 2 ingredients different, I use mayo instead of milk & I don’t use nutmeg, but that sounds like a nice touch!
Yours sounds tasty too! The cheese is the key ingredient 🙂