We eat a lot of pureed and mashed cauliflower at my house. I often use cauliflower as a substitute for potatoes and other more carby vegetables.
This recipe takes a little time but is still simple to make. Most of your time will be spent waiting on the cauliflower to cook. You want to make sure it is really soft and mashes very easily with a fork before pureeing it.
After that, it is just a matter of adding all the ingredients to your favorite pureeing machine and letting it do the work!
The flavor is very similar to garlic mashed potatoes especially if you get the texture to match.
Pureeing Cauliflower and Adjusting the Texture
Following this recipe exactly will give you a very thin puree. I suggest adding the cottage cheese at the end to bulk it up a little bit. That is, unless you have a medical reason not to do so.
Cauliflower naturally contains a lot of water which is the reason cauliflower purees are typically pretty thin. You could make this thicker by adding the cheese, a little flour, or using less liquid. For a mashed potato type consistency, don’t add any liquid at all when you start pureeing.
I used my food processor with the small bowl attachment. I think food processors work better with cauliflower because they chop up any stem pieces very well. A blender with good power will work well also – just make sure the cauliflower is very soft. Immersion hand blenders sometimes get clogged up with veggies like this.
This puree is a great substitute for mashed potatoes for people looking to reduce their carbs or want to change things up a little.
- 2 cup cauliflower chopped and cooked
- 1 clove garlic crushed and peeled
- 2 tablespoon nonfat buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon soft cheese cottage, ricotta, or feta
- 2 teaspoon olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Chop cauliflower into 1" pieces and boil for about 10 minutes - until easily mashed with a fork.
Place all the ingredients in a food processor and process until the texture is smooth and creamy.
You can add cottage, ricotta or feta cheese if you wish to do so.
Serve in a bowl and garnish with chives, if desired.
Whole milk or half and half are perfectly fine substitutes for the buttermilk. They will have a little less tangy flavor too.
Careful with the cheese addition - some people with dysphagia should not eat cheese due to the risk of choking.
Give it a Try?
Have you made this recipe or something similar? Let us know how you made it in the comments below! Also, please leave a rating if you enjoyed it.