Ok, hmmmm where to start with this one. So, first up this is what is known as ‘cauliflower toast’ a recipe suggested to me on Twitter to try, potentially off of the relatively similar quirky title of the carrot bacon recipe video made recently!
So this actually turned out to be one recipe where I pretty much failed in all honesty as you will see in the video. I managed to bodge the recipe in the end to make it look like the finished product, but hopefully some of the tips here will make yours work, either way it is a pretty quirky snack that I made cauliflower grilled cheese out of, but I would honestly stick to cauliflower rice, there is so much effort needed to make this, but maybe you are intrigued to try it and find out for yourself – I was and hence this video and recipe!
Start off with the cauliflower, ensure you have stripped all the leaves away and are just left with florets. Chuck them into a large food processor and blend up the cauliflower into fine snow like pieces – warning, this can get everywhere!
Tip the cauliflower into a large frying pan (no oil etc needed) and fry for a good 5 minutes until softened. I would actually consider cooking it a little longer if you can, until literally just starting to brown, but only just. The thing is we want to make this as dry as possible. Another alternative is to remove from the heat and pat dry or press out any spare moisture, I have a feeling mine was a little too heavy still and drying may have taken out any excess moisture.
Let the cauliflower stand and cool before adding in a large egg (I used a medium one in the video and thing you need more grip) and also the parmesan. Mix through so that the egg is well combined and the egg is coating all of the cauliflower, it should come together nicely. Season with pepper and a bit of paprika should you wish.
Using a large frying pan add some oil and warm over a medium flame. Spoon in heaps of the cauliflower mixture and press into a toast like (square) shape cooking in the pan until charred then flipping over and cooking the other, again until charred. Now in the video this was a real struggle, but I actually believe you should try that first, but if you have a fail like I did then consider making the shapes on foil / baking parchment and placing in the fridge to firm up for 30 minutes before frying, this helped me a lot! Whichever method you try, congratulations you have made ‘cauliflower toast’ … wedge some mozzarella cheese between two slices and fry a little longer wrapped in foil to melt the cheese for a grilled cheese effect. It tastes nothing like toast, but is actually tasty! Give it a go!