Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Trust me, this is good stuff




Cauliflower with Garlic and Bread Crumbs
500 3-Ingredient Recipes Copyright 2004

1 head cauliflower
½ cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled
½ cup seasoned dried bread crumbs I used Rienzi brand, Italian-style

Core the cauliflower and cut it into florets. Put the cauliflower into a 2-quart pot, season with salt and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, then drain.

While the cauliflower is cooking, prepare the garlic: Slice the garlic cloves thin. Heat ¼ cup olive oil in a wide sauté pan or skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil starts to smoke, add the garlic.

Sauté the garlic for a minute, add the cauliflower, and toss to coat with the oil Season with salt and pepper, then sprinkle the crumbs into the pan and toss to coat the cauliflower (the crumbs will not fully cover the cauliflower). Continue to cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until the cauliflower is browned.

Yield: 6 servings
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I've actually been eating cauliflower with bread crumbs for years. My mom used to make green beans with bread crumbs too. I think it's a wonderful way to eat my veggies. This is the first time I added garlic, which is a great addition, and sticking to a recipe helped me to control the fat. When I freestyle this dish, I have a tendency to add too much oil (and I usually add butter too but this was delicious with just oil).

I was in a hurry the day I made this. It was hot but I paid $3.50 for a head of cauliflower to make this and it didn't have much quality time left so I braved the heat and cooked this up. I didn't take enough time to cut the cauliflower into small florets like I prefer and I could have browned this a little longer but it still came out fine. Hubby even had some.

Now I wish I had fussed with the picture more but this is the best I could manage when I was hot and tired.

I bought this cookbook because I thought it might have some easy recipes in it, which it does, but I'm not really a fan of the 3-ingredient gimmick. There's a recipe for Beef in Chianti Mushroom sauce. The three ingredients are beef, flour and a bottle of chianti mushroom sauce. Is that really a recipe? Where do you get chianti mushroom sauce? Next to the Ragu? That's like making Chicken Tonight (a product I loved in the early 90s BTW).

I have the desire to keep cooking and blogging but I'm having a lot of difficulty with recipe selection. I feel as if I've made everything already! Just a few restrictions make it even harder (no nuts, no shellfish right now either).

Question of the Day: What's for dinner tonight?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

This sounds delicious! I have a head of purple cauliflower at home that I was hoping to use in a new way. I'm definitely going to try this tomorrow night!

Anonymous said...

Dinner tonight is leftover pasta and grilled veggie focaccia.
I have a hard time with selection too. I know you are making more recipes a week than I am, but I think it is harder in the summer when it is hot. Maybe try piciking something you are interested in and making it a bunch of different ways like: salsa, or cool drinks, or BBQ sauce. I know the new cooking light has several different recipes for BBQ sauce so I may start down that road. Just ideas.
I, however, think that you are doing a great job picking recipes as they are always interesting to read about.

Anonymous said...

Hubby is out of town, so grandaughter and I will probably just scrounge around. I made up for it last night, however. Baked tilapia, sauteed mushrooms, baked potatoes, green beans and luscious homegrown tomatoes from a roadside stand.

Jan

Wanda said...

I commented this morning, but then blogger went beserk and apparently ate my comment. It seems to be working fine now, though.

Dinner tonight was boneless, skinless chicken thighs, floured and fried in olive oil, BBQ beans from the supermarket deli, leftover spaghetti with meat sauce from last night, AND....your Artichoke Salsa with W.W.Pita Triangles. The photo is waaay at the bottom of tonight's entry in my blog....plus a critique. ;)

I am taking your Cauliflower recipe recommendation to heart, and will probably be making it in the very near future. Thanks for another great inspiration!

I am glad you are going to keep cooking and blogging. I was afraid you were feeling a little burned out. Recipe reruns would be fine with me. It'll look different or might have some changes the next time around. Or you could photograph and critique meals out, whether nice restaurants or fast food,...or you could do nice, interesting dishes and tableware, tableclothes, table settings or 'tablescapes'.

This blog is one of my most anticipated daily stops, and Jan's too. And we discuss your entries and make your recipes too... or plan to. We actually do more talking about cooking than actual cooking. LOL!

Wanda said...

Just to clarify - Jan does a lot of cooking, but has lots of favorite recipes, so she is a 'recipe junkie'. I am the one who talks more than cooks, but I do use new recipes ... pretty often, as the mood strikes me.

Randi said...

3.50 for cauliflower? Wowzers. It is on sale here for 99 cents a head.