Cauliflower Naan--gluten free, AIP

Sometimes you just want something "bready" to dip into a dish a la' naan or other flatbread.  If you're off grains and gluten, this recipe is a decent substitute--PLUS you're getting more vegetables!

I got the basic recipe here, from the always helpful Louise Hendon: https://healingautoimmune.com/paleo-aip-bread-recipe--but as usual, I tweaked!

Preheat oven to 450 degrees (yes, HOT.)

• 1 cup cauliflower florets
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup arrowroot flour (see the last ingredient if needed)
• 1 Tablespooons garlic powder more or less
• 1/2 t. Salt or to taste
• You may need to add coconut or cassava flour, a tablespoon at a time--I'm trying cassava next time, we find it a one-to-one substitute for wheat.

Cook cauliflower florets till tender--I steam them, but you could use a microwave--and drain.  Use your blender or food processor to make a smooth paste--if that doesn't happen (and it didn't, for me), add the oil and blend.  Turn out into a bowl, flour, add salt and garlic.

This was supposed to make a malleable dough you could roll out without the additional flour but it didn't--it was more batterlike, so I added a couple of tablespoons of coconut flour till it thickened into a soft dough.

Remember, coconut flour is REALLY absorbent, so just add a bit at a time and it will thicken.

use a sheet of parchment paper on your baking sheet and plop about a third of your dough onto it...flatten with your palm or a big spatula to about 1/4" or less (I went for less!)
Bake for about 15 minutes, but keep an eye on it, oven temperatures vary and that parchment paper gets brown.

I used my toaster oven, but next time will try the oven in the stove, where there's more room...

This really was supposed to stay light colored, but I was pleased with the slight crispiness at the edges.

Let cool and enjoy...it's supposed to remain soft and even a bit stretchy inside--that's the arrowroot flour at work!  I used it as a dipper into a meat sauce, my husband used his as pizza crust.  Either way, it was GOOD, low carb, and gluten free.

German "Potato" Salad (yep, made with cauliflower)

We often substitute cauliflower for foodstuffs that are off limits for us, on the Paleo diet and now the autoimmune protocol.  (Even as a pizza crust!) As a nightshade, potatoes are definitely up there on the "I don't think so" list.  But this dish is so delicious you don't miss them for a moment!

SOOO delicious!  A great way to get lots of veggies, too...

Give it a try, for a summer potluck or picnic--since it has no mayonnaise it doesn't have to be refrigerated immediately, and in fact it's wonderful hot.  (It tastes hearty enough for winter fare, too...)

INGREDIENTS

1/2 a large head of cauliflower, cut up into chunks (more if you want)
1/2 lb. bacon more or less--we get Pure, from Farmland, with no nitrates or nitrites, and delicous!
2 stalks of celery sliced thin
3-4 green onions or scallions
1/4c c. diced sweet onions if you need more
T. dried or fresh parsley
splash of red wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar
1 t. coconut aminos or a bit more (can use honey or maple syrup)
sea salt to taste

Fry bacon till crispy, drain and reserve fat; slice scallions into small bits, green tops as well.  Don't ask me why, but I love the Zen of cutting vegetables with a good sharp knife.  Joseph made this one...

Steam cauliflower till tender

Yum!

I like the celery cut this fine...

Saute celery and onion, if you've cut up more, in the leftover bacon grease till onions are translucent.

Crumble bacon and add it and everything else to a large bowl.  Dump the onions and celery in, splash with vinegar, add sea salt to taste, and the parsley for a bit of color.  Traditional German potato salad is slightly sweet...that's what the teaspoon of coconut aminos does.  Mix well and serve warm or cold.

I added a bit of my home made nettle salt because nettles are SO good for you, but I don't expect most people have that on hand!

And of course you CAN use potatoes if they're not a problem for you.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Definitely not Paleo, and with this much cheese it's barely Primal, but hey, it's pizza without a grain-based crust! OK, it's not all that easy to pick up and eat with your fingers when it's still hot, but under the circumstances, eating pizza with a knife and fork can be forgiven. And if you have leftovers, it IS easy to eat with the fingers as God intended pizza to be eaten.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Ingredients:

CRUST
2 c cooked, riced cauliflower
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp garlic salt
olive oil

TOPPINGS
2 c pizza sauce (I use some form of organic pasta sauce, usually roasted garlic.)
2 c shredded cheese
Your choice of toppings
(Note: toppings need to be precooked since you are only broiling for a few minutes.)

Directions:

Take 1 large head of fresh cauliflower, remove leaves, and chop the florets and stems into chunks. Add to food processor and rice it -  pulse until it looks like grain. Do not over-do pulse or you will puree it. (Note: one large head should produce approximately 4 cups of riced cauliflower. The remainder can be used to make additional pizza crusts immediately, or can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week for other uses.)

Steam the riced cauliflower until soft, then drain it for at least an hour. (Note: you can microwave it for about 8 minutes without adding any water, in which case there’s no need to drain it.)

First, make the crust:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet with olive oil.

In a medium bowl, stir together cauliflower, eggs and mozzarella. Add oregano, crushed garlic and garlic salt, and mix well. Transfer to the cookie sheet, and using your hands, pat out into a 12" round, then use the back of a spatula to level it.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.            
   
Finally, turn it into pizza!

Remove from oven and add sauce, cheese, and toppings. Place under a broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted - approximately 3-4 minutes.

Enjoy!

Cauliflower/Sausage Stuffing for Roast Turkey

We've enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with our family for years. Our dear friend Roberta does the bulk of the cooking – turkey and all the trimmings – and a fine job she does of it too! That one time each year we indulge in a bit of traditional bread stuffing.  But since going Paleo I've been looking for a substitute for bread-based turkey stuffing for the times I decide to roast a bird myself.

I knew I wanted a sausage-based stuffing with a taste similar to the traditional, but I scoured the Internet and came up pretty much empty – either it involved bread or it was something else entirely. I’ve been totally unimpressed with non-wheat/gluten free breads, so I decided to wing it and make my own using cauliflower as a base.

One thing I remember from my mom’s stuffing is that she always boiled the neck & giblets with onion and celery as a flavoring/moistening agent, so that’s where I started.

Cauliflower/Sausage Stuffing for Roast Turkey

2 stalks celery, chopped*

¼ sweet yellow onion, chopped

1 turkey neck & giblet package

½ head of cauliflower, trimmed into florets

½ lb pork sausage

1 T Herbs de Provence

1 t rosemary

Boil the celery, onion, neck & giblets in a small pan with just enough water to cover. Simmer until the meat is falling off the neck.

Strain and pour liquid into a medium size pot, setting aside the solids.

Add cauliflower florets to liquid and steam until cauliflower is soft. While steaming, strip meat from the turkey neck and add to cauliflower along with the onions and celery. When soft, mash like potatoes.

Fry the sausage until brown. If desired, chop up the giblets and add those too, otherwise nibble on them while you cook, feed them to your cat, whatever. Once meat is browned, drain off the grease and add the meat to the cauliflower along with the herbs and mix well. Either use it to stuff the bird or keep warm until ready to serve: I did the latter.

I'm still getting used to the idiosyncrasies of making gravy with arrowroot instead of wheat flour - it tends to be a little gooey - but it tasted just fine!

*Note: I didn’t actually use two stalks of celery – I grabbed the whole bunch and chopped a bit of waste off the top, then chopped from the top, leaves included, until I had about two stalks worth.

Garlic Mashed Cauliflower

Another oldie but goodie...
Garlic Mashed Cauliflower

If you’re watching your carbs, give this a try instead of potatoes!

cauliflower, originally uploaded by Cathy (Kate) Johnson.

Yes, I know this is normally garlic mashed potatoes...but for those who are trying to cut down on carbs and also up your intake of cole-family vegetables, this is LUSCIOUS! Looks pretty much like the old standby, too...

We get a fresh head of cauliflower and cut it up into small florets–what you don’t eat raw, that is. (I can’t keep my hands off of it--you may hear me crunching away right now--but there’s always plenty left...) Steam until tender with just a bit of water, then drain off the excess liquid. (Yes, of course you save that for soup stock!)

Mash with a potato masher–we’ve got the old-fashioned hand-operated kind, but you can use an electric mixer or food processor, if you prefer. I just like quiet in the kitchen!

My good old masher! (One of several--I like antique kitchen tools...)

Add at least a tablespoon of minced garlic (lots more if you're garlic nuts!), sea salt*, fresh ground pepper and a tablespoon full or two of butter. Yes, real butter--organic if you can find it!

We use about 3/4 to a cup of cheese, sometimes freshly grated reduced-fat (part skim, that is) sharp cheddar, sometimes a bag of pre-shredded Italian cheeses with herbs, if we catch them on sale. You can skip the cheese altogether, of course, or add a non-dairy substitute if necessary--I hear they melt better now. Mix that in while the cauliflower is still hot, and if you like, return it to the burner to continue melting the cheese.

Note:  Ooops, I forgot to mention that this is also quite good WITHOUT cheese, for those who are watching their fat intake closely...I edited the entry!

For a really delicious treat–if you can wait that long!–plop it in a greased casserole dish, then tuck it into the oven set at 325 degrees till it’s brown on top.

Oh. My. You won’t miss potatoes...and your family will be requesting this for special occasions, mine does!



Notes:



☛ We’ve switched from regular salt to sea salt, for health reasons, and use a fraction of what we used to--I still love it, but J. needs to watch his blood pressure. If you want to give sea salt a try, good old McCormick http://mccormick.com/ makes a sea salt grinder you can buy in the grocery store–or even from Amazon! You can’t refill it, though.

Roland Sea Salt is romantic as the dickens...”collected from the warm waters of the Mediterranean,” tra la. (I couldn’t taste the Italian flavor in the cauliflower, though!) You can read more about the company, which advertises that they bring the world to you, at http://rolandfood.com. Use this crystalline stuff in the coarse form in dishes where it will dissolve on its own, like soups or stews, or grind it fresh, for best flavor...

If you can't find it in your local grocery store, you can find IT on Amazon, too...
Roland Sea Salt Coarse Crystals from the Mediterranean Sea - 26.4 oz


And a good grinder’s a necessity, if you use this type of sea salt! I found a couple of likely ones on Amazon–isn’t it amazing what you can find there now? Not just books any more! This one looks like a pretty decent one: Kyocera Ceramic Fine Mill, White Top

J. found an old pepper mill at a thrift store that worked just fine, like my masher, though, so look around...shopping in antiques malls and thrift stores is a great way to find tools that do exactly what you need, without the bells and whistles--which means without the noise or the electrical use, either.

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Let us know what you think of this, if you try it! We love feedback

And by the way, I used the Uni-ball Signo white gel pen and inexpensive Pelikan gouache for the cauliflower--it's on Canson Mi-Tientes paper.