I’m getting all fancy with my veggies in the galley today.  Not time consuming fancy.  Nor am I using weird and wonderful ingredients.  But by the time I finished making, then consuming this ultra-delicious dish, it felt very fancified.  I even poured us a glass of crisp white wine to go with to feel extra fancy pants fancy.

A lowly head of cauliflower, a package of mushrooms were the main ingredients.  The most ‘exotic’ ingredient was miso paste which you could leave out – although I would suggest you don’t because it imparted a wonderful salty umami flavour that would be really hard to beat.  Just make sure you add it after everything is cooked because too much heat will destroy it’s beneficial fermented properties.  And besides, if you don’t usually use miso in your cooking, I would suggest getting some anyway.  We consider it our Asian penicillin and often, if we are feeling a bit sniffly and achey, we swirl a spoonful into a cup of hot water to sip.

OK, so on to my fancy veggie dinner…

If you, like us, when on the boat, have just one burner for cooking, I would suggest making the mushroom sauce first and setting it aside. But if you have two burners and no oven or if you are cooking in a regular kitchen with an oven, make the sauce while the cauliflower is roasting.  Economy of efforts.

There is no one these days that hasn’t felt the impact of the world’s COVID-19 pandemic in one form or another.  Directly or indirectly.  Here in our little home by the sea my shopping trips have been severely limited ie I don’t go out at all, focusing instead on shopping from my pantry – a good practice any time.  Many of my fellow bloggers have been posting their favourite pantry recipes with lists of shelf-stable ingredients.  It’s something I fall into naturally because after spending so much time on our little sail boat with the teeny tiny galley this became our norm.  Using fresh ingredients usually came at a premium and were used very sparingly.  We learned to function with very little space.  I provisioned with canned goods, beans and lentils, dried fruits and vegetables….anything that didn’t require refrigeration and was stable without chilling for several weeks at a time, sometimes longer. So I decided to make this again using as many shelf-stable ingredients as possible and it is again a winner. Frozen cauliflower, dried mushrooms and evaporated milk became the base for round two.

I foraged my pantry for dried mushrooms.  These babies are great added to so many dishes and I use them often on land and at sea.  Once rehydrated they add a wonderful meaty texture and the residual broth adds so much flavour to sauces.

I haven’t in the past done much roasting in my Omnia oven but roasting veggies is so easy – cauliflower (obviously), root veggies like carrots and parsnips, potatoes. Super easy and fast too.  Heating up our conventional oven, especially in the hot summer months, seams ridiculous and wasteful now that I have this option.

For the second making, I used frozen cauliflower and predictably it wasn’t as crunchy as with fresh but the flavour was just as good.  If using frozen simply cut down on the cooking time.

Spread the mushroom sauce evenly over the perfectly pan roasted cauliflower then sprinkle with Swiss cheese.  For a medium to large head of cauliflower all of this fits into the Omnia without over flow. But of course, you with conventional oven-cooking, your roasting pan will be more than big enough to hold everything.  You could even double up the ingredients if you’re serving a crowd.

For us tonight this was the main event but it could easily make at least four side portions to accompany a simple protein like fish or chicken. You’ll want to keep the main simple because this is rich…fancy rich.  It is certainly not dairy-free but it is low in carbs, vegetarian and definitely gluten free.

Thanks a whole bunch Lou for sending this in.  When I saw it, I immediately thought…perfect for some Omnia stove top oven cooking!  Sealed in my recipe vault for when we’re feeling somewhat fancy again….and want something comforting. Comforting and fancy. A real winner dinner.

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Lou’s Roasted Cauliflower with Mushroom Sauce.

Roasted cauliflower dressed in a rich and creamy mushroom sauce.

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Keyword mushroom, cauliflower, vegetarian, gluten free, cheese

Servings 2 Generous main course servings

Calories 739kcal

Author www.seasaltgalleykat.com

Equipment

• Omnia stove top oven (for the ovenless)
• Roasting pan and casserole dish (for conventional oven users)
• Cheese grater
• Saucepan for making the mushroom sauce

Ingredients

For the roasted cauliflower

• 1 Head Cauliflower Cut into small pieces *see Galley Kat Notes below
• 1-2 Tbsp Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

For the mushroom sauce

• 2 Tbsp Butter
• 16 Oz White mushrooms Sliced **see Galley Kat Notes below
• 1 Small OnIon Chopped (a generous 1/2 cup)
• 2 Garlic cloves Minced
• 1 Tsp Thyme
• 1/4 Cup Vegetable broth ***see Galley Kat Notes below
• 1/2 Cup Heavy cream ****see Galley Kat Notes below
• 1/2 Cup Grated parmesan
• 1 Tbsp White miso paste Optional but really worth adding *****see Galley Kat Notes below
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 Cup Grated swiss cheese Could substitute gruyere or similar cheese

Instructions

For the roasted cauliflower

• Toss cauliflower in oil and season with salt and pepper
• For Omnia users, place cauliflower in baking pan, cover and set on preheated base plate. Cook on high for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to medium and continue cooking until cauliflower browns lightly. Remove from heat and set aside while making the sauce.
• For conventional oven users, place cauliflower on roasting pan and roast in a preheated 450 ° oven for about 20 minutes or until cauliflower begins to brown lightly. Place cauliflower in casserole dish.
• Melt butter in saucepan and saute mushrooms, onion and garlic until mushrooms have released all their liquid and onions are slightly caramelized.
• Season and stir in heavy cream continuing to simmer until sauce tickens slightly. Stir in parmesan. Remove from heat and stir in miso paste. Adjust seasoning.
• Pour sauce over cauliflower and sprinkle with grated Swiss cheese.
• For omnia users, return cover baking pan to heated base plate and continue cooking over medium heat until cheese has melted and sauce begins to bubble.
• For conventional oven users, place casserole dish back in oven set on broil for 3-5 minutes or until cheese begins to bubble.

Galley Kat Notes:

Galley Kat Notes

*If using frozen cauliflower, thaw first.  You will need about 6 cups.

**If using rehydrated dried mushrooms, use about 4 cups soaked in hot water for about 15 minutes then drained, reserving some of the liquid.

***You could use a full 1/2 cup of the reserved mushroom liquid instead of the vegetable broth but you will likely need to adjust the salt and pepper addition.

****If no heavy cream is available sprinkle 1/2 tbsp flour over mushroom/onion mixture then gradually stir in 1/2 cup evaporated milk.  Continue stirring at a low simmer until sauce thickens. If it thickens too much simply add more liquid a tablespoon at a time until the sauce is thickened but nicely pourable.

*****If using the miso paste, be careful when adding additional salt to the sauce as miso has a naturally salty taste.

Nutrition

Calories: 739kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 51g | Saturated Fat: 31g | Cholesterol: 158mg | Sodium: 1151mg | Potassium: 1815mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 1775IU | Vitamin C: 147mg | Calcium: 606mg | Iron: 3mg