Day 12: Cauliflower stuffing my way

Stole this. Mine looked
 just the same.

I owe a post from this past Saturday, so I thought I'd take advantage of Wordless Wednesday to catch up. I haven't posted a recipe yet this month, so I'm going to do that. But I'm going to go a step further and tell you how I made the recipe with what I had in my kitchen. I know a lot of people are afraid of cooking, with or without a recipe. I thought I'd share a recipe called simply Cauliflower Stuffing that paleo or low-carb readers might like to make for Thanksgiving, and give it a few twists that might not be obvious.

(Note: I'm not a food blogger. A good food blogger would have taken a dozen photos of the process of creating this recipe. I don't have time for that shit. I even stole the one photo I did use. I'm not always a good person.)

I'm going to start with ingredients. A friend posted this recipe this afternoon, and I didn't have everything it called for, so I made a couple of substitutions, usually with things I had from my CSA that I need to use. I had a large head of cauliflower that I wanted to use, so I had to adjust the other ingredients to fit.

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp. butter 3 Tbsp butter plus 3 Tbsp olive oil
  
• 1 onion, chopped 1 leek chopped
  
• 2 5 large  small carrots, peeled and chopped
  
• 2  4 celery stalks, chopped or thinly sliced
  
• 1 small large head cauliflower, chopped
  
• 1 c. chopped mushrooms  1 small eggplant, peeled, sliced, salted for 1/2 hour, rinsed and cubed
  
• kosher   sea salt
  
• Freshly ground black pepper
  
• 1/4 c. Freshly Chopped Parsley 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
  
• 1 tbsp. chopped fresh sage or 1 1/2 tsp. ground sage (too lazy to go outside in the dark and cut some fresh)
  
• 1/2 c. vegetable or chicken broth 3/4 cup beef broth (because that's what I had open in the fridge)
  

I followed the cooking directions pretty much as they were given in the recipe. It's a standard order of operations that didn't need to be tweaked even though I made so many changes to the ingredients.

My review: I give it 5 out of 5 stars. The original and my adaptation. Coraline and I both liked it. It's a rich, nutritious, warm blend of vegetables, and the recipe could be adapted in many ways. We ate it with some left-over roast beef, and that was all we needed for a balanced meal. Really the only downside to the recipe is that it takes about an hour to make. Lots of chopping and sauteing. 

Would I stuff a turkey with it? No, it would get too mushy. Would I serve it alongside a turkey? Sure. The sage gives it a Thanksgiving dinner flavor. For those who avoid bread or grain, it's a better-than-satisfactory substitute for traditional bread stuffing. For those who don't though, it's probably not going to satisfy.

I can imagine a lot of other variations for this recipe, depending on what you have in your fridge or pantry. If you like spicy foods, throw in some heat -- chopped hot peppers would do the trick, although I'd leave out the sage in that case. Add some garlic when you cook the onions if you love garlic. You could also add sweet red bell peppers or cubed winter squash or sweet potatoes. The mushrooms are optional, but you could use any variety for a rich, earthy flavor. I have several eggplants in my fridge and no mushrooms, so I choose to just swap them out because they're of similar color and texture when cooked. If you've got fresh spinach, kale or chard, chop some up and toss that in toward the end of the cooking time. You could even add cooked white potatoes and make a sort of hash. If you don't like the herbs or don't have them, add a cup of shredded cheese just before serving. Finally, if you want a one-pan meal, add any kind of cooked, chopped meat, from chicken to sausage to leftover turkey, during the final 15-minute cooking period. And for vegetarians, add some beans or chick peas, or even cubes of seitan or sauteed tofu.

That's it. I'm all out of ideas for how this recipe could be twisted and shaped. Let me know if you try it, and if you make any adjustments yourself. And, of course, if you have questions, you may call the emergency hotline at 1-888-reticula any time after 10:00 am.

Bon appetite!