There have been cauliflower pizza crust recipes popping up everywhere recently, but I’ve been using the “we don’t have a food processor yet” excuse to not make it. All of the recipes I’ve seen instruct us to pulse the cauliflower in a food processor, then cook it. A food processor is one of those things we decided to wait to buy until after we move. But we’ve been planning on moving for the last 2 1/2 years! So I don’t know if we’ll ever move, or if we’ll ever get a food processor.
But really, it’s not a big problem. I don’t know if this is true, but my grandpa always told us that our last name means “to do without”, so I decided to give this cauliflower breadsticks recipe a try without a food processor just to see what the result. I was really hoping it would turn out great, and it did! Better than I imagined.
Cheesy Cauliflower Breadsticks Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 large head of cauliflower, chopped into florets (remove the green leaves before chopping)
- 1 large egg
- 1 C. shredded cheese, divided (I used Monterey Jack b/c that’s what we happened to have)
- 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
- optional: marinara sauce for serving (we had no marinara sauce and still devoured these cauliflower “bread”sticks)
Instructions:
- Steam the cauliflower florets until tender enough to mash (20 minutes or so): We used a large steamer pot. Brought about an inch of water to a boil, then put the cauliflower florets in a metal colander over the water and covered with a lid.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Put the tender cauliflower florets in a dish and mash with a potato masher until it resembles a rice-like substance.
- Dump the mashed cauliflower onto the center of a clean dish cloth or cheese cloth. Pull up the ends of the cloth and squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the cauliflower.
- Put the mashed and de-liquified cauliflower into a mixing bowl. Add the egg, 1/2 C. of the cheese, the Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Dump the mixture onto the parchment paper-lined baking sheet and use a spoon or your hands to shape into a rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick.
- Bake in preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes (15 worked well for me).
- Remove from oven. Top with the last 1/2 C. of cheese. Return to oven and bake 5 more minutes.
- Remove from oven and let sit about 3 minutes. Slice and serve (with marinara sauce if desired).
We had our cheesy cauliflower breadsticks with some warm black beans and some leftover Perfect Kale Salad.
*Inspired by this Cauliflower Cheesy Bread recipe.
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