Tonight was pizza night in our house. Psyche!! Well, it was like pizza night but not. We called it pizza night but it was really cauliflower pizza bites and not the ooey, gooey, kind with dough and pepperoni and tons of calories and stuff. As I’m writing this, I’m laughing to myself at all the cauliflower jokes that seem to be circulating these days because cauliflower has literally become the substitute for so many things. There is a good reason for it though. People are trying to cut down on carbs so far be it from us to stop this. We are just here to help. We are not saying that there is not a place and a time for the warm, bubbly, ooey, gooey, pizza but it wasn’t here in our house tonight.
These little cauliflower florets are bite sized and delicious when cooked up with a little sauce, cheese and fresh basil. Check out how easy this recipe is to make, and don’t turn your nose up until you try it! Thank you.
Start by mixing some olive oil and freshly pressed garlic in a bowl. Then lay the cauliflower on a parchment lined sheet pan and toss the florets with the oil mixture to make sure they are all nicely coated then sprinkle with some kosher salt.
Roast in the oven for 30 minutes then remove the pan, top each cauliflower floret with a spoonful of marinara and top with a pinch of the cheese blend.
Then switch the oven to broil and pop the pan back into the oven until the cheese is nice and bubbly. Keep a watchful eye on these guys to make sure that they don’t burn. You will be so mad if you do all this work and then forget that they are under the broiler. Just stay put. They don’t take long at all. You just need like 3-5 minutes. Once the cheese is golden and bubbly, you can remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle with the fresh basil. Transfer to a serving platter and enjoy. It’s like pizza but super good for you!
- 1 head cauliflower, broken into large florets
- 3 Tbsp good quality olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, pressed
- kosher salt
- ½ C marinara sauce
- ½ C 4 Italian cheese blend (we like the Trader Joe’s quattro formagio)
- 2 Tbsp fresh basil, julienne-cut
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a small bowl whisk olive oil and pressed garlic.
- Line a large rimmed sheetpan with parchment paper. Spread cauliflower florets our on sheetpan. Drizzle florets with olive oil/garlic, gently toss to coat. Season with kosher salt.
- Roast cauliflower in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and turn the oven up to broil. Place a spoonfull of marinara sauce over each floret and top with a pinch of cheese.
- Return cauliflower to the oven to broil. Watch carefully as not to burn. Remove from oven when the cheese is bubbly and turns golden brown, about 3-5 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish, top with fresh basil and serve immediately.
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