The Original Mashed Cauliflower
Many years ago, in a small village just three kilometers from downtown Sparta (yes, the one in Greece) my father sat down to eat dinner with his wife and two daughters. Dinner was cauliflower stewed with tomatoes, olive oil and onions, a traditional weekday dinner. He raised his fork and lowered it to the plate where he proceeded to mash the cauliflower and tomatoes into what can probably be recorded as the first time a person ate mashed cauliflower. My father, Gregory, liked to mash it so that the cauliflower blended with the sauce thus making a more flavor-elevated forkful of yummm.
There was also bread on the table--yes, all Greek dinners include bread for dipping into the delicious and nutritious sauce of the day. Greeks love their sauces, and the correct eating etiquette at any Greek table is to tear off a chunk of bread and dip it into the sauce. Carry this morsel to your mouth followed by a bit of Feta cheese. That's right--no spreading butter or cheese onto the bread. As with many other Mediterranean cultures, the bread is a vehicle for carrying the nutritious and delicious sauce to your mouth. But enough ranting about the all-too-important bread on the Greek Heritage Cooking table. This story is about the main dish--the stewed cauliflower.
Prepared in the same basic way as almost all other vegetables, the Greek Heritage Cooking method requires about one-quarter of a cup of olive oil in the pot into which you add chopped onions to cook slowly until they have softened and released all of their natural sugar. Next, you stir in a 14.5oz can of tomatoes (or the equivalent of fresh tomatoes, skinned and chopped) and allow those to cook for a few minutes. Last comes the cauliflower, washed and cut into florets. You'll want to keep some of the more tender greens surrounding the cauliflower and add them to the pot as well. Season with salt and pepper, add two cups of water, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover the pot. Cook for about 30 minutes, until the cauliflower is fork-tender and all liquid has reduced to a thick sauce, the essence of a pot of veggie goodness.
For a printable recipe, click here.
And here's a video of one of my favorite Greek songs to accompany your Greek Heritage Cooking dinner.
There was also bread on the table--yes, all Greek dinners include bread for dipping into the delicious and nutritious sauce of the day. Greeks love their sauces, and the correct eating etiquette at any Greek table is to tear off a chunk of bread and dip it into the sauce. Carry this morsel to your mouth followed by a bit of Feta cheese. That's right--no spreading butter or cheese onto the bread. As with many other Mediterranean cultures, the bread is a vehicle for carrying the nutritious and delicious sauce to your mouth. But enough ranting about the all-too-important bread on the Greek Heritage Cooking table. This story is about the main dish--the stewed cauliflower.
Prepared in the same basic way as almost all other vegetables, the Greek Heritage Cooking method requires about one-quarter of a cup of olive oil in the pot into which you add chopped onions to cook slowly until they have softened and released all of their natural sugar. Next, you stir in a 14.5oz can of tomatoes (or the equivalent of fresh tomatoes, skinned and chopped) and allow those to cook for a few minutes. Last comes the cauliflower, washed and cut into florets. You'll want to keep some of the more tender greens surrounding the cauliflower and add them to the pot as well. Season with salt and pepper, add two cups of water, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover the pot. Cook for about 30 minutes, until the cauliflower is fork-tender and all liquid has reduced to a thick sauce, the essence of a pot of veggie goodness.
For a printable recipe, click here.
And here's a video of one of my favorite Greek songs to accompany your Greek Heritage Cooking dinner.
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