Recipe - Breaded Cauliflower

Most people have never heard of this dish but I grew up eating breaded cauliflower and loving it. It is a comfort food for me and my mother made this often and got the recipe from her aunt who always made it when they were over to visit. In the days before the internet, this beloved dish was hardly known, in fact my family was the only one I knew (and still do) that makes it.  When I married my husband he was a meat and potatoes kind of guy and considered potatoes his veggie (wrong on so many levels) so when I introduced this dish (the first among many veggie dishes to come) he was very skeptical and reluctant, he just wasn't a veggie lover. Then he took a bite and this dish has been at the top of his request list for dinner items for the past 10 years, yeah it's that good. I make it a point to prepare this when I have guests and I always get inquisitive looks but everyone walks away satisfied and addicted. With that said the way my mother always made it and how I made it, until recently, was far from low calorie because you basically where frying the breaded cauliflower in butter (yes delicious butter, it makes me giddy just thinking about it). But recently I came up with a lower calorie way of recreating this childhood, okay and adulthood, favorite of mine. This dish is not only easy but it is filling and there have been times when this is the main part of my meal, and my husband and kids fill their plates pretty high as well. So even if this sounds odd to you, or you have never been a cauliflower fan (like my husband) it is a must try. 

What you will need

One head of Cauliflower, Italian Bread crumbs OR croutons crushed into crumbs (I do the croutons because I can get a huge bag of organic croutons from Costco), butter, garlic salt and other spices you may like.  *If you want to add a few calories and a little more taste then you will also want Parmesan cheese and a cooking spray oil ( I use grapeseed oil)

Breaded Cauliflower Instructions

*Cut cauliflower into medium sized florets

*Steam until tender but do not over cook!

*Place cauliflower in a Ziploc bag or large bowl. 

*Add 1 to 2 tlbs of butter and melt onto hot cauliflower.

* Once the butter is melted and has coated the cauliflower add Italian bread crumbs or your crumbs of crushed croutons. I use about 1 cup but it depends on how big your head of cauliflower was.

* Add garlic salt (or other spices you like) to taste.

* Gently stir or shake your cauliflower until it is lightly coated. You can also add some Parmesan cheese, when I do add it I use the freshly grated kind but crumble it up into smaller pieces. 

*Once the cauliflower is coated with the spices or extras you like, place it in a single layer on a large foiled baking sheet. Set your oven to broil. If you have a cooking spray you can lightly coat the cauliflower and this will give it more crisp as if it were fried.

*Place the pan on a lower rack in your oven and watch carefully as you broil it, it does not take very long, we are just browning and crisping it, not cooking it. When the cauliflower is browned it is ready!

This makes great leftovers especially if you have a toaster oven. I just place some straight from the fridge into my toaster oven and broil it again until it is warmed up and crispy again. Enjoy this one, I know I do!