Cauliflower Poutine

Poutine is a french canadian dish traditionally prepared by topping french fries with mushrooms, cheese curds, and gravy- if you did not know that or have never had poutine, I am genuinely sad for your stomach and taste buds. I wanted to take a traditional dish and take it in a different route using my favorite flower after hydrangeas... cauliflower!

Switch the fresh mozzarella out for some vegan cheese and you have a delicious vegan dish. Poutine is one of my all time favorite dishes, and I usually order it everytime I see it on the menu.

I was at the farmer's market this past weekend and saw these beautiful colored cauliflowers and wanted to cook something with them, and the culinary gods of inspiration shined down upon me and bestowed me with the idea of cauliflower poutine- maybe we can call it #coutine.

I've had fried cauliflower before but never topped with all these delicious goodies on top, and let me tell you- it was a home run. A must-try dish for anyone that likes cheese, gravy, and mushrooms.

The best part about pouting is that the combinations are endless, for example, this poutine would go very well with a pesto instead of a gravy.

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Cauliflower Pouting

yields: serves 4-6 prep time: 15 minutes cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 heads of cauliflower, different colors optional separated

• 3 cups vegetable oil

• 1 cup baby bella mushrooms, or any mushroom thinly sliced

• 1 cup fresh mozzarella, cubed small (substitute vegan cheese for vegan version)

• 2.5 tblsp. olive oil

• 1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced

• 4 garlic cloves, minced

• 2 cups vegetable broth

• 1/2 cup red wine

• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

• 1/2 tsp sage

• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Start by heating up your vegetable oil to 375 and deep fry cauliflower until lightly gold. Meanwhile, cook down your baby bellas with 1/2 tblsp. of olive oil in a medium skillet until golden.

2. Remove the mushrooms and set aside. In the same skillet over medium high heat, prepare a vegetable gravy by cooking the onion and garlic cloves with the rest of the olive oil until golden. Add the flour and cook for an extra two minutes, stirring constantly so it does not stick to the bottom. Add vegetable broth and wine and cook for 5-6 minutes until gravy starts to thicken.

3. In an oven safe dish, top the fried cauliflower with some mushrooms and fresh mozzarella, and broil on high until cheese is melted, around one minute.

4. Add gravy, serve hot, garnish with some parsley or green onion and you have 'coutine.' Voilà, bon appétit!

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A beautiful dish to start off spring and also a good twist on a classic dish, from now on you and I might always ask for cauliflower instead of fries for our poutine.

xoxo

Oliver

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