Thursday, December 2, 2010

Polish Cauliflower

I was browsing one of my old cooking books, when I stumbled upon the perfect recipe for the situation I was in. I called it the "post-Thanksgiving syndrome": full fridge, a lot of ingredients telling me they would soon get rotten if I didn't use them, and also a lot of leftovers from my huge Thanksgiving dinner from Whole Foods. Actually, it was supposed to be a "Petite" holiday dinner. But, believe me, we were 4 people and we'd been eating from it for 3 days.
The recipe was so simple I couldn't believe, and it contained 2 of the ingredients I was going to dump in the bin that same day: an almost whole cauliflower (not from Thanksgiving) and the stuffing. So I made the Cauliflower and we loved it!!!  


Ingredients:

1 whole cauliflower, leaves removed
Salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup leftover stuffing/dressing or coarsely chopped breadcrumbs*
1 hard-boiled egg, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (optional)*
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preparation:

In a pan that fits the whole cauliflower and has a lid, add water to around 1 inch in height and have it boil. When boiling, add salt and place the cauliflower inside to cook. When it starts boiling again, cover, and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Don't turn around the cauliflower, its top side cooks by steaming.
Meanwhile, melt the butter, add the stuffing or breadcrumbs and fry until golden brown **. Add the egg, parsley (if using) and lemon juice, stir.
Place the cooked cauliflower on a platter or bowl, cover with stuffing mixture. Serve immediately.

Notes:

* My suggestion is to use parsley only if using breadcrumbs. If using stuffing/dressing, it already has some herbs and seasoning, so there is no need to add more.

** At this point, I removed it from the pan and spreaded it in a baking sheet. Then took it to a preheated oven at 300 F and baked for a while, turning twice. I particularly like it crunchy. After that, I put it back to the pan and added the egg and lemon juice.

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