Cauliflower Pie with Grated Sweet Potato Crust
Before I get to the recipe, I want to announce something:
I had a fantastic time at BlogHerFood 2011 in Atlanta and left invigorated about my blog and thinking “I could totally do that [speak].” I had no idea what I would speak about, however.
While I was super confident that I *could* speak, I definitely wasn’t confident that they’d actually accept a proposal I worked on with Bridget. But they did! And I don’t remember being this happy about something in a long time. I’m stoked! Let me know if you’ll be there. For more info on the conference and what I’m talking about, check out this link. Here’s the title: Visuals: Simple Post-Processing for Food Photography: Free, Cheap, and Easy Tools.
On to the recipe…
I bought this springform pan in 2010 just to make this recipe. I’ve made the recipe three times since then (which, surprisingly, is pretty frequent around here) but this is the first time I’ve made the recipe using sweet potatoes.
I’ve also used the springform pan to make this savory tart.
In fact, this pan has never seen a dessert. Sometimes sweet potatoes are so sweet, though, they feel like dessert. And this most recent batch certainly seemed that way. I made this dish while the Omnivore was out of town and you know something is a winner when you don’t mind eating the leftovers a few or 8 times. You also know it is a winner when you’re telling your husband what you had for dinner and he’s genuinely annoyed (in a good way) that he missed that dish.
Another awesome thing about the recipe is the presentation. This version of the cauliflower pie is bursting with autumnal color and is liable to make any home cook squeal.
It might seem a little labor intensive but with the food processor, it is really no big deal. And the taste of it makes it worthy of shredding the sweet potatoes by hand anyway: tender roasted cauliflower doused in a healthy (as in truly healthy, not HUGE) amount of cheese and milk over shredded sweet potatoes just a tiny bit crispy.
Cauliflower Pie with Grated Potato Crust (adapted from The Moosewood Cookbook)
Ingredients
For the potato crust
3 cups packed grated raw sweet potatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup grated onion
1/2 cup packed grated white cheese, like mozzarella
1/4 cup parmesean cheese
1 medium cauliflower, broken into small florets
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 dash thyme
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
black pepper
paprika
Instructions
- Combine grated potato with salt, onion, and beaten egg.
- Press into a 9″ pan (I used a 10″ springform) that has been brushed with oil.
- Bake in a preheated 400* oven for 30-40 minutes until it browns.
- Remove from oven and lower temperature to 350*.
- Sprinkle 1/4 cup of shredded cheese over pie crust.
- Combine thyme, basil, salt with beaten egg and milk.
- Break cauliflower up into small florets (I encourage you to just pulse in a food processor until chunky). Combine all ingredients (milk mixture and cauliflower) with remaining shredded cheese.
- Pour into prepared pie crust.
- Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. Filling will appear dry.
- Bake for 40 minutes until tender and delicious. Let set 5-10 minutes before unmolding (if using a springform pan).
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time: 1 hour(s) 30 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 6
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