Braising is not just for carnivores. Although we do enjoy a good pot roast, we love braising vegetables and feel this is often the best way to play up their flavors.
For example, this cauliflower gets browned in olive oil and garlic, letting a thin golden crust form on its firm white stalks. It's tossed with tangy sun-dried tomatoes, to heighten and balance the mild, slightly sour flavor, and then simmered with milk for a dish that we love over pasta or on its own.
The other advantage of vegetarian braises? They are much, much quicker than meat...
Creamy Braised Cauliflower with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
serves 2
1 1/2 cups milk
Olive oil
Red pepper flakes (optional)
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, in strips
1 head of cauliflower, sliced into bite-sized pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Put the milk in a small saucepan to warm.
Heat the olive oil in a heavy pot or Dutch oven and toast the pepper, if using. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and translucent.
Turn the heat to medium high and add the tomatoes. Cook until fragrant and softened, then add the cauliflower. Cook without stirring for a couple minutes, then stir to let it brown on the other side. Cook for about 4 minutes, or until the cauliflower is dark in spots and golden in others.
Turn the heat to low and let the pan cool down a bit, then add the hot milk, stir, and cover. Cook for about 7 minutes, or until cauliflower is tender. Remove the lid and test, then add salt.
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Mmm, this sounds delish! Think I'll try it tonight and substitue some brocolli in. Thanks! =)
I recently had a delicious vegan [never thought I'd type those two words together] Shepherd's Pie made with seitan at the Chicago Diner, an all vegetarian restaurant that specializes in comfort foods. The Shepherd's Pie was "meaty" and satisfying. That got me thinking about cooking with seitan, which led to finding this great sounding recipe for French Country Stew:
http://gourmetsleuth.com/seitanrecipes.htm#French%20Country%20Stew
I made this for dinner tonight. yum. thanks, Faith!
I too made this recently and even my 12-year-old son who doesn't eat cauliflower thought it was heavenly. It didn't hurt, too, that I ran out of milk and had to add some heavy cream! (diluted with an equal amount of water... so in the end, for anyone who wants to duplicate my effort, I used 6 oz of milk, 3 oz of heavy cream and 3 oz of water). For lunch today I added chicken broth to the leftovers and puréed the soup with an immersion blender... Highly recommended... In some ways even better than the original braise...
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I made this for dinner last night ... added in some chicken sausage and white beans to make it a one-dish meal. Very good! I browned the cauliflower first, then took it out and browned the sausage, then put everything back in and added the warmed milk. However, one major problem: the milk curdled! I think I had the heat too high. I think next time I might braise in chicken broth (so I don't have to worry about the curdling) and then stir in a bit of heavy cream at the end to get the creamy consistency. Overall, though, a great idea, and one I'll be making again.
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