So you might have noticed I haven’t done too much cooking the past few weeks. We’ve had some pretty hot days here in SoCal and honestly, the hotter it gets, the less I want to be at home standing in my air condition-less kitchen. Hence why most of my posts have been sweets like s’mores or restaurant reviews. Still, on my last trip to Trader Joe’s (which feels like forever ago… seriously I don’t even know when I was last in TJ’s… clearly I need to get my life together…) I was inexplicably compelled to purchase an entire head of cauliflower. No idea.
Last night I was at home, in the mood for dinner, but unwilling to have yet another meal out. I opened my fridge and there it was. The cauliflower. Staring at me. What the hell does one do with a cauliflower besides chop it up and use it for veggie dip? After a good hard look around my kitchen I discovered a box of vegetable stock on top of my fridge. Though it was not exactly soup weather, I decided a nice hearty yet not heavy stew was in order, particularly considering all the garbage I’ve been feeding myself lately. So I just started throwing sh*t in the pot – bay leaves, basil, sriracha, few cloves of garlic, baby carrots, half a red onion, salt, pepper. I ended up running to the store and getting a can of fire roasted tomatoes for $2.50 (a ridiculously high price for a can of tomatoes. Thank you, Gelson’s.) and one bunch of kale. You can read the recipe for the details, but I ended up with a healthy, flavorful, and chunky… mess. But a good mess. I even managed to dig up some whole wheat penne, which I cooked up and dumped the mess over. Perfect. And honestly there’s a lot of ways you could serve this. Instead of pasta use wild rice, maybe some white beans, or even some noodles. You could even serve this cold with some nice hearty bread instead of penne. Perfect for a summer night. And of course put in whatever you want – any veggies will do, but I literally just threw in stuff from my refrigerator. Not too bad if I do say so myself. Enjoy!
Also, for those of you watching your weight, this is practically a zero-calorie meal if you skip the pasta/beans/rice/whatever. But it will still fill you up and leave you feeling satisfied. So eat as much as you want, guilt-free!
Hot Cauliflower Mess (Recipe PDF)
1 comment
Cauliflower is my favorite veggie. I like to toss it in a hot oven with onion an obscene amount of whole garlic cloves a drizzle of olive oil and shaved parm till it all gets crispy. Mmmm.