Diet Friendly Fast Food

(Updated with better photos and step-by-step instructions, March 2014.)  Have you heard that cauliflower is the new trendy vegetable for 2014?  I don't know who decides these things, but personally I'm kind of excited to see a versatile and low-glycemic vegetable like cauliflower getting the spotlight!  My love for cauliflower is well documented in the recipe archives, but there are quite a few of my early cauliflower recipes that can really use a photo update, like this amazing way to cook cauliflower I posted in 2006 when I was infatuated with Mark Bittman's wonderful book The Best Recipes in the World.  In this recipe with Tuscan origins, the cauliflower is briefly simmered, then sauteed in a generous amount of olive oil that's been seasoned with garlic and finished with both lemon zest and lemon juice.  This is a pretty garlic-flavored dish, which was fine with me. But if you're not sure how much you like garlic, or if you're planning a romantic evening, you might want to reduce the amount of garlic.

(Updated with new photos and better instructions, November 2012. While we're spotlighting Thanksgiving Recipes I thought I'd mention this lovely mashed cauliflower, which would taste great with a spoonful of turkey gravy over it if you're avoiding potatoes because they're so high on the glycemic index.)  

Before I ever thought seriously about going on the South Beach Diet, I heard about their now-famous recipe for "Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes" and the idea of cauliflower masquerading as mashed potatoes struck me as a little strange. I've since seen many recipes comparing pureed cauliflower to potatoes, but this pureed cauliflower is perfectly happy about being cauliflower, and thrilled to be flavored with garlic, goat cheese, and Parmesan.  If you like cauliflower, this is good stuff.  If I was seriously dieting at the time, I'd be happy to have this cauliflower on my plate at Thanksgiving Dinner, next to some Whole Wheat Stuffing or Stuffing Muffins topped with gravy.