Cauliflower Steaks: Who Knew?

Just out of the oven

Friend was talking but all I remember him saying was "cauliflower steaks," two words I never before heard put together, and, curious, I bought a cauliflower, cheap and nutritious but I had no recipe for it that everyone loved besides breaking it into florets and roasting. Looked up and made a recipe derived from the magazine Bon Appetit. The link will take you the cauliflower steaks recipe, complete with sauce and relish--essential, I think, to the dish. You can roast the tomatoes and garlic cloves with the cauliflower.

Low fat, low-carb cauliflower steaks--when they're browned in a pan, roasted until tender, and then served with a black-olive relish and roasted tomato sauce--they don't look bad at all, do they? Dare to try them. The black-olive relish makes a great pasta sauce. The leftover florets I cooked, mashed and served as low-carb "mashed potatoes." Truly a versatile vegetable I'll use more often now.

Baked Not Fried Steak Fries: Recipe with a Trick

Crispy outside and creamy center -- but not fried! The hot-water trick is from Cook's Illustrated.

Crispy Baked Steak Fries

2 large russet potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Wash russet potatoes, peel if desired, and slice them into the shape of steak fries, about 1/3 of an inch thick.
2. Fill a large bowl with hot tap water. Place sliced potatoes in the water for 10 minutes. Water will become cloudy.
3. Remove and drain sliced potatoes and towel-dry them pretty thoroughly -- or else they won't crisp up.
4. Lay a sheet of foil over a baking pan or pizza pan. Pour olive oil onto the pan. Pile the potato slices onto the oiled pan and toss until all are coated with oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Separate the potato slices so they are not touching. Place in hot oven and allow to bake for 40 minutes, turning after 20 minutes.

Sometimes rather than use salt and pepper, I toss the raw potatoes with Cajun spices.

Better Than Brownies: Lower-Fat Blondies Recipe

Blondies are the butterscotch version of brownies, and I did not believe I could ever love them more than brownies, but now I do thanks to this lower-fat recipe found in a recent Cook's magazine. They turn out moist, chewy and with a chocolate bar chopped into it, and nuts. Note: They really ARE best if you wait 2 hours before cutting into them.

These blondies will melt in your piehole.

Lower-Fat Blondies (makes 16)

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1-3/4 cups packed brown sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg plus 2 large-egg whites, room temperature
4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Chopping the chocolate bar.

1-1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
1/4 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 350 degrees. Line a 13x9" pan with foil sprayed with vegetable oil spray.
2. Whisk flour, salt and baking soda together in a bowl. In a large bowl whisk sugar, melted butter, egg and whites, vanilla, and vinegar together until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture, chocolate, and pecans with a rubber spatula until just combined. Don't overmix. Batter will be thick.
3. Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth out the top. Bake 17 to 20 minutes until toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Cool completely, about 2 hours (I challenged this and they truly are BETTER and easier to cut if cooled completely), and cut into serving pieces.

Truly Delicious Lower-Fat Mac and Cheese: Recipe

I didn't think this recipe would be easy and company-good, but it is, with the crunch and goo we love. Baked mac and cheese/That won't clog my arteries/ is all I want for the holidays. From Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites (1996). Wish I'd made it then, but better now than never.

Macaroni and Cheese (serves 4 generously)

1-1/2 cups 1% milkfat cottage cheese
1-1/2 cups skim milk or buttermilk
1 teaspoon dried mustard or 1 Tablespoon prepared mustard
pinch of cayenne
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup grated onion (you do need it, for the savor)
1 cup grated extra-sharp Cheddar cheese (4 ounces)
1/2 pound uncooked elbow macaroni
2 Tablespoons finely grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese
1/4 cup bread crumbs (Piehole used "Panko" crumbs (pictured), now readily available at the supermarket)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a 9- or 10-inch square baking pan with a light coating of cooking spray or oil.

In a blender, combine the cottage cheese, skim mik or buttermilk, mustard, cayenne, salt and pepper and puree until smooth. In a large bowl combine the pureed mixture with the onions, Cheddar cheese and uncooked macaroni. Stir well. Pour the macaroni and cheese mixture into the baking pan. Combine the grated Parmesan or Romano cheese with the bread crumbs and sprinkle over the top. (And after that, the Piehole scatters a few butter curls on the top, for a nice browned top.)

Bake about 45 minutes until the top is browned and the center is firm. Per 10-ounce serving (that's a lot of mac and cheese!), 471 calories, 38 mg cholesterol.

Trying to reduce white-flour carbohydrates, I used brown-rice pasta elbows, precooking them; they worked great. Brown-rice pasta can take a lot of overcooking. And Panko breadcrumbs stay crisp and crusty.

Thank you, Moosewood.