There are so many ways to use the new darling of vegetables, cauliflower. My daughter makes some pretty mean mashed “potatoes” and cauliflower stir fried “rice”. I was making some lamb burgers and wanted a mediterranean side dish that was healthy and yum. Here is how it turned out:
(By the way, that is Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic and Onion Jam on top of the stuffed lamb burger, a great addition.)
The Cauliflower Couscous was very easy to make, mega healthy and yum too. I cut 1/2 of a cauliflower head into medium size pieces and then pulse it in a food processor until I get rice or couscous sized pieces. Then I do the same with other vegetables, in this case I have a red pepper, 3 green onions, and 2 celery stalks that I diced pretty small before pulsing. I made a vinaigrette using lemon juice, a little vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, kalamata olives, 1/4 jalapeno pepper (no seeds), green onions, a grated garlic clove, 5 basil leaves, a little dried thyme and oregano from my garden and some grated lemon rind that I pureed in the processor. Mix vinaigrette with the vegetables.
Top each serving with some feta, basil and toasted pine nuts for the side dish.
The next afternoon I put two scoops of the cold couscous on a bed of arugula lettuce and topped it with pickled onions, kalamata olives, feta and toasted pine nuts. I added a little more of the vinaigrette and had a healthy vegetarian lunch. Remove the cheese and it’s vegan and raw! Beets would have been a nice addition too.
Tip: I buy a large bag of pine nuts at Costco and then keep them in a drawer in the refrigerator and they keep for a LONG time. They really make a difference in this dish but could be substituted with toasted pecans.
Tip/Recycle: I use the vinegar from my pickled onions and the oil from my tomato confit or dried tomatoes to make my vinaigrettes to give them even more flavor.
Tip: If you want a softer “couscous” you can blanche the cauliflower before putting them in the food processor.
Tip/Substitute: I rarely buy bottled dressings, but you can certainly substitute a store bought vinaigrette in this recipe.