Pinch of Yum's Creamy Cauliflower Sauce

Here is another surprisingly good recipe for my diet. This time the source was Pinch of Yum. Just look at these pictures and then tell me you aren't at least a little curious about this sauce:

So, yeah, I love Alfredo sauce! But I know it is SOOOO bad for you. But doesn't the above sauce look just as good? And at 50 calories a serving instead of 500, I had to give it a try. Once my sauce was prepared, I just tasted a little off the spoon. I was immediately surprised by how good it was. It is basically pureed cauliflower, so my expectations were really low. But with the garlic and spices, it was kind of yummy. So, then I put it on the table and had Scott try it before I told him what it was and he said, "It's pretty good. What is it?" And when I told him, he was like, "NO WAY!" We both agreed that it is "weaker" in flavor and not as rich and sinful as real Alfredo sauce... but for a diet substitute, it is pretty fantastic. Let's face it, a cup of pasta alone is like 200 calories, so if I can find a yummy sauce that only add 50 more calories to it, why not! And almost all of those calories come from the butter you saute the garlic in. It's amazing!

http://pinchofyum.com/creamy-cauliflower-sauce

Pinch of Yum's Creamy Cauliflower Sauce

CREAMY CAULIFLOWER SAUCE

Author: Pinch of Yum

Serves: makes about 5 cups

INGREDIENTS

• 8 large cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 5-6 cups cauliflower florets
• 6-7 cups vegetable broth or water
• 1 teaspoon salt (more to taste)
• ½ teaspoon pepper (more to taste)
• ½ cup milk (more to taste)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Garlic: Saute the minced garlic with the butter in a large nonstick skillet over low heat. Cook for several minutes or until the garlic is soft and fragrant but not browned (browned or burnt garlic will taste bitter). Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Cauliflower: Bring the water or vegetable broth to a boil in a large pot. Add the cauliflower and cook, covered, for 7-10 minutes or until cauliflower is fork tender. Do not drain.
3. Puree: Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cauliflower pieces to the blender. Add 1 cup vegetable broth or cooking liquid, sauteed garlic/butter, salt, pepper, and milk. Blend or puree for several minutes until the sauce is very smooth, adding more broth or milk depending on how thick you want the sauce. You may have to do this in batches depending on the size of your blender. Serve hot! If the sauce starts to look dry, add a few drops of water, milk, or olive oil.

NOTES

I like to add a little bit of olive oil for the flavor and to help keep the sauce really smooth. Several other readers have mentioned that they really liked the addition of Parmesan cheese as well.

**Serving size is 1/2 cup.

What I did was take a normal head of cauliflower (just standard size) and cut it up. I boiled it in the veggie broth for extra flavor as opposed to just boiling it in water. In a pan, I sauteed my minced garlic (pre-minced from a jar) in the butter. Then I added the cooked cauliflower, garlic, and two cups of broth to the blender. Sprinkle in your salt, pepper, and I used just a dash of nutmeg from the Alfredo version of this recipe (see below), and blended the snot out of it. That's it. The Alfredo recipe calls for some heavy cream (just a touch) but I left it out because of my diet.

HEALTHY FETTUCCINE ALFREDO

Author: Pinch of Yum

Prep time:  15 mins

Cook time:  15 mins

Total time:  30 mins

Serves: 8

 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb. uncooked fettuccine noodles
• 3 small heads cauliflower
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• pinch of nutmeg
• pinch of black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 1 cup starchy boiling water from pasta pot

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Chop the cauliflower. Bring the vegetable broth to a boil over medium high heat and add cauliflower. Cook until cauliflower is soft, about 15 minutes. In my experience, the longer you cook it, the smoother the sauce will be. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and saute for 4-5 minutes or until soft and fragrant.
2. As the garlic and cauliflower are cooking, bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the fettuccine according to directions on package, reserving some of the starchy water to add to the sauce later.
3. Transfer cauliflower to a blender with about 2 cups of the broth. You may need to do this in batches depending on the size of your blender. Add the sauteed garlic, salt, nutmeg, and black pepper and puree until very smooth, about 5 minutes. Once the mixture is moving, stream the olive oil into the blender. Add more broth or water if the mixture is too thick to move through the blender. You want it to turn through the blender easily. When puree is very smooth, transfer back to the butter/garlic skillet.
4. Add the cream and cook over low heat. Add the starchy pasta water (or regular water if you’re not making pasta) and keep warm until ready to serve. Combine noodles and sauce in a large pot or skillet and serve immediately.

NOTES

The sauce will “dry out” a little bit as it cools on the pasta. Adding a little water to the leftovers will help make it creamy again. Serving size is ⅛ of the noodles with about 1 cup of sauce.