Cauliflower Risotto with a Spiced Pecan & Blue Cheese Salad
A midweek date-night is one thing that has consistently safeguarded my sanity & kept me always so excited to have a loverly night with my main squeeze during what can be the most mundane part of the week. I mean Monday thru Thursday can be a little bland when you combine work schedules with protecting time to go to the gym, keeping the house somewhat organized, and early-ish bedtimes. I love any excuse to cultivate loverly moments (hence my blog), so it’s like why wait for the weekend to hit? Whether it means staying in or going out, it’s just a good excuse to change things up & treat ourselves to something fun.
In Arizona, we were religious about Tuesday date-nights, and it was always something we looked at as a welcomed escape for our work week routine. So many times we’d end up at the bowling alley, and I think that ultimately prepared us for joining a bowling league up here in Tacoma. For the last 31 weeks, our Tuesday date-nights have transitioned to Wednesday nights at the alley, pounding beers and throwing strikes. Pounding beers is definitely an exaggeration, & throwing strikes is also a mild stretch. I more like watched everyone else on our team throw strikes, but f*ck was it fun. & despite being the weak link on the team, we kicked ass and took names. OUR TEAM TOOK HOME THE GRAND PRIZE!! Beat out all the other teams, battled it out last Wednesday and bowled our hearts out to be No. 1, & holy hell it was an accomplishment beyond accomplishments. This is our first Wednesday post our big bowling league victory, & with no league nights at the lanes we’re going back to our midweek date-night roots and creating our own Wednesday hot date at home.
I’ll admit that often times weeknight dinners around here are spent on the couch watching whatever show we’re currently binging, & I think that has just become our totally relaxed & mindless mode. & as kind of embarrassed as I am to admit that’s how we roll 2-3 nights a week, I do have a “doesn’t everyone do this” feeling about it. I think we need those mindless, low effort evenings where we can put a show on in the background while my husband watches intently and I flip through my latest Martha Stewart magazine for new inspiration. & it’s a routine I’m totally ok with because #1 - we’re real people who need a to just be not busy for hot second, & #2 - we frequently shake things up and make time for special nights in. & that’s why I love midweek datenight - a good excuse to stay in real clothes past 5pm & just focus on having some real deal fun. Whether it means going out, or in the case of this week staying in with a nice dinner at home.
I haven’t gotten creative with meatless meals lately, but Jordan loves keeping it meatless and I wanted to do something special for him. For both us, going meatless 2-3 days a week has become something we’re passionate about. But another thing that I’m even more passionate about is reducing my food waste. For me it means using what I already have on deck as inspiration for new meals, & embracing leftovers. So being that I have a few pieces of prosciutto leftover from Easter, I’m crisping it up in the oven and using it as garnish for Cauliflower Risotto with a Spiced Pecan & Blue Cheese Salad. So yes there is prosciutto which makes this meal not technically meatless, but the prosciutto is a garnish that can be easily swapped out for sundried tomatoes or another non-meat topping, so I’m keeping it in the meatless category. & I’m also counting this as meatless because cauliflower risotto is a f*cking fun vegetarian option that’s perfect for a more romantic datenight at home. & that’s really what I wanted to set the tone for this evening.
Anything pasta related just feels romantic to me. Like I just have this mindset there’s no such thing as casual pasta. And if there is it’s kinda not worth eating. I don’t know I just think pasta deserves to be plated in pretty bowls and enhanced with fancier ingredients. Like in this case, prosciutto & fresh herbs & mascarpone, all of which just make sit so colorful as it sits on the plate in front of you.
I will admit that cheese is your friend with this recipe, and when I was putting it all together I was thought it myself I’m making cauliflower mac & cheese. From the amount of cheese to the cooking process, the whole thing felt mac n’ cheesy. You use 1/3 cup of creamy and rich mascarpone, which just melts right into the sauce to give the whole thing that luscious texture that I think of when I think of regular risotto. Then a cup of tangy gruyere cheese is melted in, giving the dish a sharp & salty bite that cuts the richness from the mascarpone & makes it easy to eat bite after bite. And the gruyere brings the stringy cheese component where there is just a little string of cheese that tails from each forkful, and that’s always so satisfying.
Any pasta pairs perfectly with a cold & crisp salad, and this cauliflower faux-risotto is no different. The cheese and herbs in the risotto made it feel farmers market fresh to me, & I thought it would be perfect with a light salad amped up with nuts and a salty cheese. In the spirit of wanting to use what was on hand, I used arugula as my base for a Spiced Pecan and Blue Cheese Salad. A salad so crisp and fresh that it’s perfect with pastas or even just a pan seared steak, and you can sub the lettuce base with kale, spinach, or any other leafy green you have on hand. This salad is super simple to whip together (I mean salad - hello - throw it all in the bowl and you’re set), and the only part of this one that requires any extra cook time is the sugared pecans. & by cook time I mean tossing them in sugar and giving them a bake for 10 minutes. A very low effort task to make an extra special garnish that takes this simple salad up a notch.
Just a romantic meal in, and such a success for cauliflower risotto. If there is anything to take away from this recipe, it’s that cauliflower risotto is a feasible and delicious main, and if you’re like me and love pasta for the fun sauces, cauliflower risotto is the perfect way to get your pasta fix. & this recipe is 100% my gateway drug to all sorts of cauliflower risottos in the future.
For the Risotto
3 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 lb of riced cauliflower, or 2 heads of cauliflower riced with a cheese grater (you can grate the cauliflower yourself to create the ricing affect)
4 pieces of prosciutto
1/2 c. dry white wine (I use Pinot Grigio)
3 c. chicken broth
1/3 c. mascarpone cheese
1 c. gruyere cheese
1/4 c. fresh chives, thinly sliced
2-3 tbsp fresh parsley
Start by heating preheating your oven to 400, and then placing a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the butter to the pan and let it melt. Once totally melted, add in the garlic and shallot, stirring both in the butter and letting them cook for 2 minutes. Next add all of your riced cauliflower to the skillet, letting it toast in the butter for about 7 minutes. You can the cauliflower to toast and become slightly browned, so you’ll want to stir the cauliflower every 2 minutes.
Once the cauliflower has cooked for a few minutes, crank the heat up to high, letting the cauliflower cook for 1 more minute, and add in the wine. This will deglaze the pan. Give the cauliflower a stir in the wine, and you’ll let it cook just long enough so that all of the wine is absorbed. That will only take 2-3 minutes since it’s such a small amount of liquid, so keep a watching eye on the stuff.
Once the wine has been absorbed by the cauliflower, add in all of the chicken broth. You can let the chicken broth continue to cook on high for 10 minutes. Once the 10 minutes is up, reduce the temperature to medium and let the cauliflower continue to cook for 15 more minutes. You’ll want to keep the skillet uncovered.
As chicken broth continues to cook down, place your prosciutto in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Place the prosciutto in the oven and let it bake for 10 minutes. Remove the prosciutto once the cook time is up, and let it cool while still sitting on the hot pan. This will allow your prosciutto to continue to cook while cooling, making it crispy as a cracker by the time it’s cool enough to handle. Set the pan aside as it cools.
Navigate back to the cauliflower and check the liquid situation. You want all of the broth to cook out so there is no pooling liquid in the pan. If after the additional 15 minute cook time, the cauliflower still has some liquid in the bottom of the pan, crank the heat to medium high and let the mixture cook and additional 2-3 minutes. If the cauliflower appears to be very dry, add in 1-2 tablespoons of additional broth or water (only if it’s so dry the cauliflower on the bottom of the pan is bone dry and beginning to brown). If there is no pooling liquid and the cauliflower on the bottom of the pan is still moist, the cauliflower is perfect and you need to do nothing other than skip to the next step.
The next step is to stir in the mascarpone. While keeping the skilet over medium heat, add the mascarpone to the pan and stir it gently into the cauliflower to sort of fold it in. Once the mascarpone is melted into the dish, add in the gruyere cheese. You’ll want to add in the gruyere one pinch at a time, letting it completely melt into the pan before adding in more cheese (just like how you do when making mac n’ cheese). Next, stir in all of the fresh herbs along with a pinch of salt and pepper, stirring to that all are evenly mixed into the risotto. Give the risotto a taste, adding in more salt and pepper if needed. You can now keep the dish covered and over low heat until you’re ready to eat.