LOW CARB CAULIFLOWER RISOTTO
This recipe turned out even better than we expected. Seriously. Scott still talks about it and talked about it the entire weekend we made it. He told me the other day that it is one of his top three favorite recipes we’ve ever created. I guess that means it’s pretty good! And now that I’m writing about it, I want to go back into the kitchen to make another batch!
We were excited to take on this at home challenge to create a comfort food recipe using ingredients that we would have probably otherwise skipped over: cauliflower, crimini mushrooms, and leeks! Scott and I talked about what kind of recipe we wanted to create and agreed on giving risotto a try. We’ve experimented with cauliflower instead of rice before so we knew that we wanted to incorporate that into the recipe but we weren’t quite sure how it would turn out. Honestly, we even had a “back up” recipe to make if this one wasn’t good enough! Needless to say, our backup wasn’t needed.
Don’t let the list of ingredients and steps scare you off, it is easy to make and is well worth the minimal effort!
This was originally a sponsored post by Sargento.
ADDITIONAL CAULIFLOWER RECIPES TO TRY:
- Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes
- Roasted Cauliflower
- Cauliflower Pizza Crust
- Cauliflower Cheesy Bread
- Healthy Alfredo Sauce
- Cauliflower Fried Rice
Cauliflower Risotto
- Total Time: 35 minutes
Ingredients
For Risotto:
- “Rice” – 1 head of organic cauliflower, medium size, chopped
- White wine vinegar
- 1/8 tsp garlic
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 1 large organic leek
- 1 cup of crimini mushrooms
- 1 cup Sargento mild cheddar cheese (fine cut)
- ¾ cup for the recipe + ¼ to sprinkle on top
For Cream Sauce:
- 1 head of organic cauliflower, medium size, chopped
- 2 cups organic, low sodium chicken broth
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/8 tsp (pinch) nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp (pinch) black pepper
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 cup cottage cheese
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
Instructions
Make cream sauce as listed in our previous post on Healthy Alfredo Sauce:
- Boil chicken broth. Add chopped cauliflower and spices. Cook 20 minutes until cauliflower is soft.
- Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool (approximately 5-10 minutes).
- Blend mixture in blender (Be CAREFUL! Hot liquid expands). Add cottage cheese, water and olive oil and blend again.
- Return to pot to simmer on low for approximately 5 minutes.
While cream sauce is cooling:
- Chop second cauliflower into small florets. Place small amounts at a time into the food processor to finely chop (use the pulse feature) into “rice”
- Cut leeks into quarter-sized slivers and halve mushrooms
- Coat skillet with cooking oil spray (we used avocado oil) and sauté leeks and mushrooms with a drizzle of white wine vinegar (1/4 tsp). Add sea salt, black pepper and garlic powder, making sure to stir often to prevent burning
- If you haven’t already, place cream sauce back in sauce pan and simmer on low heat while sautéing vegetables
- Once sautéed (leeks are translucent), add cauliflower “rice” to skillet with small portion (up to ½ cup) of cream mixture and simmer for two minutes
- Gradually add the remaining creamy cauliflower sauce while stirring often
- After adding all of the cream sauce, cover and let simmer on low-medium heat for 6 minutes. Check often to prevent burning.
- Fold in ¾ cup of Sargento mild cheddar cheese (fine cut), simmer for two more minutes
- Serve with ¼ cup sprinkled cheese on top and add sea salt if desired
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
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