Baked Italian-Style Cauliflower

So when I first came across this recipe, I really thought it was a side dish.  And looking at it more closely, I saw it was a meal.  Then I thought it had a lot of cheese.  No.  Perhaps I should read recipes more closely, rather than make them up in my head.

So after all that, I decided we should have it.  When I was making the grocery list, I noticed it didn't have a full pound of ground beef.  I decided it needed to, only because we have a habit of putting a half pound of ground beef back in the freezer never to be heard from again, and thus it is a waste of money.

So anyway, D made this.  It pretty much tasted like meat sauce on top of cauliflower. It wasn't something I'd ever put together on my own, but it was pretty good.  The portions were huge.

We had with a salad, but really, at least I would have been fine with just the main dish.

Baked Italian-Style Cauliflower

Photo by ALB

Serves 4 (serving size: about 2 cups)
Hands-on: 28 Minutes
Total: 28 Minutes

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
6 ounces lean ground sirloin (we used 1 pound of 93/7)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups lower-sodium marinara sauce (such as McCutcheon's)
2 ounces pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped (we didn't use)
1 1/2 pounds cauliflower, cut into florets
Cooking spray
1 ounce French bread baguette, torn into 1-inch pieces (used bread crumbs)
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh pecorino Romano cheese

Preparation
1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl. Add onion; sauté 4 minutes. Add garlic; sauté for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Stir in beef. Sprinkle with salt and peppers, and sauté 3 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Stir in sauce and olives.

2. Preheat broiler.

3. Steam cauliflower 4 minutes or until crisp-tender. Place cauliflower in an 11 x 7-inch broiler-safe baking dish coated with cooking spray; top with sauce mixture.

4. Place bread in a mini chopper; pulse until coarse crumbs form. Combine crumbs and cheese; sprinkle over cauliflower mixture. Broil 4 minutes or until browned.

Nutritional Information (without any modifications that we made)
Calories: 306; Fat: 14.9 g; Sat fat: 4.3 g; Mono fat: 7.8 g; Poly fat: 1.2 g; Protein: 16.3 g; Carbohydrate: 46.8 g; Fiber: 5.3 g; Cholesterol: 33.9 mg; Iron: 2.3 mg; Sodium: 667 mg; Calcium: 145 mg

Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2011