Cauliflower Parmesan

Swap the meat and heavy breading with cauliflower and a crunchy, salty panko topping, and you have a hearty, satisfying pescatarian dish that’s quick, easy, and pleases everyone in the family. #meandthemoose #cauliflowerparmesan #lightercomfortfood #comfortfood #sheetpandinner #dinnerrecipes

This recipe replaces meat with cauliflower steaks and uses some crispy, briny, magical breadcrumbs to add a crunch that mimics breading without any dredging or frying necessary!

Take me to the recipe!

Swap the meat and heavy breading with cauliflower and a crunchy, salty panko topping, and you have a hearty, satisfying pescatarian dish that’s quick, easy, and pleases everyone in the family. #meandthemoose #cauliflowerparmesan #lightercomfortfood #comfortfood #sheetpandinner #dinnerrecipes

I put on real clothes for the first time post-pandemic and postpartum for a wedding last weekend and it felt…strange. Like, I’ve completely lost track of the parameters of my body. I ordered a couple of dresses that were all either wildly too big or wildly too small. Have clothes changed a lot in the past 23 months? Or do I need to add body dysmorpia to the list of fun things I have to deal with now???

Anyway, I need to get a grip on a lot of things. Firstly, clothes. Secondly, time. The pandemic made time seem both short and interminable. But one nice benefit to having my husband working from home for the past year was that I could hand him a baby monitor while Z napped or leave him with a barely moving infant while he worked so I could handle the 5-year-old. Now that Z is a one-toddler wrecking crew and Ethan will head back to the office soon, I have to account for the whereabouts of two children who are doing activities in the real world again. Ugh.

Well, this cauliflower parmesan sheet pan dinner solves both problems. Well, not SOLVES necessarily, but definitely fits the bill for a fast, light meal that everyone likes.

Swap the meat and heavy breading with cauliflower and a crunchy, salty panko topping, and you have a hearty, satisfying pescatarian dish that’s quick, easy, and pleases everyone in the family. #meandthemoose #cauliflowerparmesan #lightercomfortfood #comfortfood #sheetpandinner #dinnerrecipes

A couple of notes:

• This recipe leaves a lot of wiggle room for more sauce, cheese, and breadcrumb topping to suit your tastes.

• I use cauliflower here, but you could certainly use meat or any other vegetable you like topped with sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, and magical breadcrumbs.

• I find this meal really filling for something sans meat, but my husband always asks for a sausage or some leftovers from another meal to go with it, so use this guy as a side or a main as you see fit.

• I barely salt the cauliflower. Usually, it needs a lot of seasoning, but since the breadcrumbs are so salty, I don’t want to overdo it. You can always add, but you can’t subtract.

• The cooking time will depending on how thinly you slice the cauliflower. Check it after 10 minutes and stop roasting when the stems are just fork tender.

Swap the meat and heavy breading with cauliflower and a crunchy, salty panko topping, and you have a hearty, satisfying pescatarian dish that’s quick, easy, and pleases everyone in the family. #meandthemoose #cauliflowerparmesan #lightercomfortfood #comfortfood #sheetpandinner #dinnerrecipes

Cauliflower Parmesan

Time: About 30 minutes, all active
Yield: 2-3 mains or 4-5 sides

1 very large or 2 medium heads of cauliflower, stems intact
¼ cup olive oil
Pinch of salt
1½ -2 cup tomato sauce (plus extra for dipping)
1½ cup shredded mozzarella 
¼ cup shredded or grated parmesan 
1 cup Magical breadcrumbs (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 425. 

Remove the leaves at the bottom of the cauliflower, but leave the stem intact. Cut the cauliflower into 1-inch thick slices and spread on a baking sheet. Some may break into florets and that’s okay! 

Spray or brush on half of the olive oil. Flip the cauliflower and spray or brush the other sides. Season one side of the cauliflower with a pinch of salt. 

Roast for 15-20 minutes, or until the stems of the cauliflower are fork tender. Start checking around 10 minutes.

While the cauliflower roasts, make the breadcrumbs (recipe below) 

When cauliflower is fork tender, remove it from the oven and turn on the broiler.

While the broiler is heating, top the cauli steaks with 1 cup of the sauce and all of the mozzarella. 

Broil until the cheese is golden brown, about 2 minutes. 

Top with the parmesan and magical breadcrumbs to taste.

Magical breadcrumbs
2 Tbsp olive oil or butter
2 whole anchovy filets (or 4 split filets depending on how your anchovies are canned)*
1 heaping cup panko
2 large garlic cloves, minced (about 2 Tbsp) 

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over a medium-low flame. Add the anchovies and cook, breaking them up with a wooden spoon or spatula until they’re completely dissolved, about 3-4 minutes.

Add the panko and cook, stirring frequently, for 3-4 minutes. If the breadcrumbs start to darken, turn the flame down.

Add the garlic and stir well. Let the mixture cook, untouched for 2-3 minutes or until the bottom of the breadcrumbs start to turn golden. Turn off the flame and mix the breadcrumbs. Let cool for a few minutes in the pan before using. 

If saving for later, let the breadcrumbs cool completely and then store, covered loosely, in the fridge for up to 4 days.

SPD: Gnocchi, sausage, and fridge leftovers

Truly clean out your fridge or freezer with this sheet pan dinner that combines textures and flavors to make something much greater than the sum of its ingredients.

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Around the new year, we decided to work on minimizing our food waste because, as any parent of young children can tell you, kids don’t give A SHIT about wasting food. Without resorting to the whole “there are starving children in the world, so you will eat this broccoli” threat that just leads to power struggles, we’re trying to be creative about getting M to eat whatever we make. Especially now that groceries are a little harder to come by (but not that hard, really).

I’ve seen millions of recipes about roasting gnocchi and for some reason, I’ve resisted. Though I feel like gnocchi should really appeal to M, the soft kind leaves him cold. When they’re roasted, however, they get crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, so they’re closer to tater tots or french fries than soft pasta. Let me tell you: Anything french fry-related appeals to my child.

We also included sausages (these are chorizo) because sausage is almost always eaten around here. You could also use hot dogs if that’s something your children will actually eat. Desperate times, people. Desperate times.

I can also confirm that this sheet pan dinner can be made with one hand while holding a baby.

A couple of notes:

• When I started making this sheet pan dinner, I was trying to mimic the flavors of a Portuguese sausage and kale soup, so I used chorizo, Lacinto kale, potato gnocchi, and sundried tomatoes, but as I said above, you can use any kind of sausage that you like, including hot dogs.

• You can also use any veggies in this sheet pan. I initially used just kale, which gets nice and crispy, but ended up using a combination of kale and broccoli or kale and something else that was about to go bad. I like the crispy kale, but for a meal, I feel like you need more textures. But really, use what you have on hand.

• I finish this dish with oil packed sundried tomatoes, but if you only have the dried ones, reconstitute them in boiling water for a few minutes before adding to the sheet pan. I would NOT recommend throwing any fresh tomatoes onto the sheet pan because the water that comes out of the fresh tomatoes will steam the veggies and gnocchi and prevent them from crisping.

SPD: Gnocchi, sausage, and fridge leftovers

Yield: 4 grown up servings
Time: 30-35 minutes, (5 minutes active time, 25-30 minutes waiting time)

2-3 cups roughly chopped kale, broccoli, green beans, brussels sprouts, etc (defrosted first, if frozen)
1 package shelf-stable potato gnocchi
¼ cup olive oil
½ tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 lb precooked sausage, cut into large chunks (defrosted, if previously frozen)
¼ cup sundried tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 450.

Toss the gnocchi and roughly chopped veggies with olive oil and salt. Add the sausage.

Cook for 25-30 minutes, or until the veggies are roasted and the gnocchi are golden and crispy.

Remove from the heat and top with sundried tomatoes.

Serve immediately.

Polenta, turkey, and kale casserole

I don’t know if the abundance of sugar, salt, and fat change my tastebuds during the holidays, but I always struggle to live by the 80/20 rule in December. I indulge with the eating and drinking and then swear I’m going to be healthy the next day, but the healthy stuff never feels all that satisfying or tastes all that good. So I end up like a moth to a flame with the treats.

But you know what? I don’t have to toggle between bland salads and a dozen cookies. This polenta casserole may just be the middle ground: It’s still delicious and a little indulgent with a garlicky pesto and plenty of cheese on top, but it also features kale and ground turkey breast and is the perfect vehicle for any of those leftover veggies in your fridge that are about to go bad. Throw them in and see what happens!

I used my own kale pesto recipe, but cut down on the oil and nuts. But for ease, feel free to use any store-bought pesto that you can find. And to up the nutrition, add any veggies you have in your fridge. You may need to add a bit more pesto to cover the extra ingredients.

Polenta casserole

1-2 Tbsp olive oil
2 lb ground turkey
Large pinch of salt
¾-1 cup kale pesto (recipe below)
1 log premade polenta
½ cup mozzarella, shredded
½ cup hard gouda (not the softer, smoked variety), shredded
¼ cup grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 425.

In a large oven-safe sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium flame. Turn the heat to medium-low and sauté the ground turkey until no pink remains and it has just begun to brown, about 7-10 minutes. Season with a large pinch of salt.

Turn off the heat and stir in the kale pesto.

Slice the polenta log into 1/4 –inch pieces and layer over the turkey and pesto.

Top with cheese and cook in the oven for 13-15 minutes, until the cheese is brown and bubbling.  

Yield: 4 servings

Kale pesto

4 cups packed chopped kale
1/4 cup toasted walnuts
2 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
4 Tbsp olive oil

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and fill another large bowl with ice water. Wash and chop kale, leaving the middle stems.

When water is at a rolling boil, add the kale and swirl with a slotted spoon a few times. After 1-2 minutes, remove it from the boiling water and add it to the bowl of ice water. Drain the kale (gently squeeze out the water) and add to your blender or food processor.

Roast the walnuts in a 350 oven or toaster oven for about 5 minutes or until just lightly browned and starting to smell nutty. You can also toast them in a sauté pan on the stove top. When browned, add them to the blender or food processor as well.

Add the garlic, salt, and lemon juice and start to blend, slowly adding the olive oil in a thin stream. If using a small food processor or a blender without a top that opens, just add the oil with the rest of the ingredients and process together. Blend until you've reached your desired consistency.

Yield: about 1 cup