Cauliflower with bacon

[hugh_mannity]

I've got this Ethiopian spice mix which comes with a recipe for roasted cauliflower.

However, there's no way I'm going to run the oven for 1/2 a cauliflower and more than that would be too much. What I did instead was:

• Cut up and steam the cauliflower
• While it was steaming, cut up and cook some bacon
• When the cauliflower was al dente and the bacon about 1/2 way to crispy, tossed the cauliflower in with the bacon
• I rolled it all around to get a nice coating of bacon juice on the cauliflower
• Then sprinkled it with a generous amount of the spice mix
• When the bacon was crisp and the cauliflower a little bit brown, I turned off the heat and threw a handful of shredded cheese over it.

There was much nomming while I ate it. But next time, perhaps not quite so generous with the spice mix -- it's quite, well, spicey.

But a delicious, nutritious* dinner with maybe 8 grams of carbs? Definitely FTW! (Yes, I'm doing the low carb thing being a diabetic and all.)

Just don't overcook the cauliflower, it shouldn't be mush.


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*Yes really: organic cauliflower, artisan cheddar, and no-nitrate bacon

Comments

[rosefox]

I use my toaster oven for small things that don't justify running the whole oven.

[indeliblesasha]

No-nitrate bacon is the BEST. ♥

(you know you can shred cauliflower as a substitute for rice, too, right?)

[foxfirefey]

Tell me about this shredding! I need to figure out something like this, my boyfriend is low carb and I'm trying to adjust cooking strategies for meals I make that include him.

[indeliblesasha]

You can use a cheese grater or a food processor (with the grater attachment) - I just grate it and then stick it in a bowl with some butter and cover it and put it in the microwave for a few minutes at a time until it's however soft I want it to be.

That's good for "serve over rice" recipes, goes great with curries, gumbos, alfredos, etc.

If you are going to add it to something that is going to continue to cook you can just rice it and then add it without the microwave step. For stuffed bell peppers and the like you need to account for how removing the rice/bread is going to leave you with extra liquid that isn't going to get absorbed. For stuffed peppers I halve the peppers and then roast until they just start to go soft, and I cook the stuffing -including the cauliflower- over low heat all together, stirring a lot to cook off a lot of the liquid. Then you can stuff the pepper and top with cheese, and it cuts your final cooking time in half.

You can also look at using zucchini as a replacement for pasta, and also spaghetti squash.

Doing searches for "paleo" and "primal" recipes will yield you a TON of great ideas, because they are grain-free (and dairy free in most cases) concepts. I'm getting ready to go make crackers using almond meal, and also have a recipe for crackers made entirely of seeds (sunflower, chia, pepitas etc.)

But! It's not a focus on carbs specifically, rather no-grain, low or no dairy and sugar, lots of vegetables, good meats (good fats). So you'll find recipes that are vegetable-carb heavy, and that might not be okay for his particular needs. :)

This is my Pinterest board for food, it's mostly grain-free if you'd like to look through it. I've had a lot of fun experimenting in the last year, cooking with specific requirements can be really fun. :)

[weaverbird]

Oooh, that sounds delicious! I use berberé in chicken stew and also to sprinkle on popcorn; I'm definitely going to try it with cauliflower now.

Thanks for the recipe. *g*

[rydra_wong]

I would just like to say that a bit of berbere (how much depending on how hot the mix you have is) in scrambled eggs is a lovely thing.

[delladea]

Ooo, this sounds so good. Berbere is one of my favorite spice mixes.

[dragon_moon]

That sounds delicious! Will have to give it a try. :o)