Cauliflower is one of those vegetables that is in its prime.
“Cauliflower rice” is found at many restaurants as a low-carb alternative to standard rice. At your local grocery store, you’ll find tons of frozen cauliflower. Cauliflower crust pizzas are all over the place.
But how do you make Cauliflower taste good?
And what are some easy kid-friendly ways to use cauliflower?
We’ve got a lesson, in the cookbook and video tutorial below, that you can use called Cauliflower Veggie Fried Rice
In that lesson, we teach students in our after-school program how to use freshly grated cauliflower combined with cooked jasmine rice to create a fried rice that’s loaded with veggies and tons of nutrients.
Here are my 3 favorite ways to bring fresh cauliflower to my life
Roast it: Chop up some florets, put it in an oven at 425 F dressed in a bit of olive oil, salt (and optional freshly chopped garlic) and roast for 30-40 minutes, flipping halfway until crispy all over. Hit it with fresh lemon juice and enjoy!
Rice it: I’ve got that covered in the link here under Cookbook and Video Tutorials
Mash it: Boil cauliflower florets in salted water until fork tender, about 6-8 minutes. Put it in a blender with some of that hot water and pulse until you have a creamy consistency, and be sure to season it well. It looks like mashed potatoes but tastes like cauliflower!
But I know what you’re thinking:
“Chef Eric, what if I don’t want to grate it from scratch because I have some frozen stuff ready to go?”
You’re sacrificing flavor and texture, but I get it, life can get crazy. Frozen cauliflower can be used in two fairly tasty ways:
Frozen cauliflower as florets: You can roast them in the oven, as I described above, or cook it in a pan that’s covered with about ¼ cup of water or veggie broth. Then gently saute it with a bit of oil and garlic and season with salt.
Frozen cauliflower as rice: I’ve used this before (the Kirkland brand is decent) but it’s hard to remove the wateryness of the frozen rice cauliflower. I’ll cook it until it’s tender, and then sear it in a bit of oil, green onions and garlic. If you add some soy sauce and other Asian flavors it’s pretty good!
But at the end of the day…I’d rather grate it!
Fun Fact About Cauliflower: In our lessons, we like to teach kids how 1 cup of cauliflower has 30 calories…but 1 cup of cooked Jasmine rice has 200 calories! If you want to eat a LOT of food that’s low calories…kids discover how much better it is to choose cauliflower!
We also go over the health benefits of antioxidants, vitamin B and Vitamin A.
So those are 5 ways to use fresh and frozen cauliflower.
But you know what’s the easiest way to get kids to eat cauliflower?
Have them experience an in-person after-school cooking class with LIFT Enrichment!
We’re starting our Spring 2022 session at MANY schools across California and Arizona. Our healthy culinary workshops are a lot of FUN for students, plus teach them a key life skill as they learn about nutrition, culture and science.
If you’d like to bring a healthy in-person cooking class to your school and you’re in CA or AZ. Reply back to me and I’ll get the process going to bring a lesson to your school this Spring or Fall 2022 so your kid (and friends!) can enjoy cauliflower.
Best,
Chef Eric
Further Reading: The State of School Lunches in 2022. My 9 Tips To “Live Abroad’ and See The World
