Cauliflower Mash

I grew up eating mashed potatoes with most meals.  Meat, potatoes and some kind of vegetable was my typical dinner.  This might be the reason why I'm addicted to mashed potatoes.  I don't need any kind of seasoning or gravy, I like them plain just how they are; anything additional is just a plus.  Unfortunately it's come to my attention that eating potatoes, especially mashed potatoes, with your meal isn't the best for you.  I've been searching for alternatives and I stumbled upon mashed cauliflower.  I thought I would give it a shot.  Due to my vass knowledge of how mashed potatoes should taste, I deemed myself the perfect judge on if these were a good substitute or not.

I broke pieces off of the big head of cauliflower.  Rinsed, cored and chopped them up into smaller pieces.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  When boiling, add cauliflower and boil until fork tender.  This will take around 10-14 minutes.  Then drain, reserving around 3 tablespoons of water. 

Add the mustard and butter.  The recipe doesn't call for cheese, but I added around a 1/4 of a cup of Parmesan cheese, for some extra flavor.

Using an electric mixer beat until creamed.  Season with lots of cracked pepper and salt to your liking.

As I talked about yesterday, I served this with slow roasted halibut and asparagus.  I was pretty impressed with how the cauliflower tasted, it was a little runny, but I think that might be because I didn't drain as much water off as needed.  Overall, I think a great substitute for mashed potatoes, they're lighter and honestly I didn't feel bad about eating everything I had put on my plate :)  I will be trying again to see if I can make them more of a thick consistency, if anyone has any tricks or tips let me know!

Cauliflower Mash

1 large head cauliflower, rinsed, cored and chopped

1 tablespoon grain mustard

1 tablespoon butter

lots of freshly ground pepper

salt to taste

grated cheese *optional

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

When boiling, add cauliflower and boil until fork tender, around 10-14 minutes. 

Drain, reserving around 3 tablespoons of water.

Add mustard, butter and cheese.

Using an electric mixer, beat until creamed.

Season with lots of cracked black pepper and salt to taste.