Creamy, Delicious, Decadent... Cauliflower?

Wouldn’t it be great if there was some kind of food that was healthy AND low-carb AND gluten-free AND low in calories?  And wouldn’t it be fantastic if that food also tasted creamy, decadent and delicious?  And wouldn’t it be awesome if that food was also inexpensive and super easy to make?  If such a food existed, I would make it two or three times a week.

Well, there is, and I do.  It’s cauliflower puree, and if you‘ve never had it, try it tonight.  Tonight!  You will be gobsmacked to discover how, with almost no effort, this humble, much-maligned vegetable can be transformed into something creamy, comforting and truly delicious.

All it takes is a head of cauliflower, some butter, and maybe a clove or two of garlic, depending on your mood.

Just take a large head of cauliflower, trim off the leaves and stem, chop the florets into 4 or 5 sections, and steam them until they are soft.  If you want, you can steam a couple whole, peeled cloves of garlic right along with the cauliflower.

After the cauliflower is cooked, I like to add a little salt and then mash it old-school style, just to break it into smaller pieces.  It’s not strictly necessary, but I think it helps things along. 

Next place the steamed cauliflower and garlic bits in a food processor with two or three tablespoons of salted butter and puree until smooth.  That’s all there is to it.

Now if you're worrying about all the fat and calories the butter adds to this dish, let’s do a little math.  An entire head of cauliflower has zero grams of fat and maybe 65 calories, at most 100 calories if it is HUGE.  So you can well afford some butter, which adds another 100 calories and 14 grams of fat per tablespoon.  Let’s say you use that massive head of cauliflower, three tablespoons of butter and feed this dish to only four people.  That comes to 100 calories and about 10 grams of fat per (very full) person.  Not to mention loads of fiber, vitamin C, folate, vitamin B6 and many other important nutrients.

So eat your cauliflower.  You’ll like it.  Granny promises.