One spring day back in 2009, I saw a magazine article about Atkins Low-Carb Diet. I’d always been intrigued and heard testimonials from people who said it worked for them. But I wasn’t willing to give up my mashed potatoes, rice and noodles. Then I saw a recipe for making a mock mashed potato dish from cauliflower on their user forums and the rest is history. Bought the book, was sold, discovered you can even make a mock rice from cauliflower………..and noodles from zucchini and spaghetti squash.
I only recently discovered a way to really firm up the ever-popular mashed cauliflower (called cauli-mash) to my my stiffness test. I love all vegetables (except beets) so doing a diet that focuses on lots of vegetables with only moderate amounts of meat is my kind of diet, as I’ve never been a big meat eater. I no longer even think of Atkins Low-Carb as a “diet”. It’s just the way I eat.
The secret ingredients are cream cheese and glucomannan powder, derived from the konjac tuber, another low-carb kitchen miracle. Although a bit pricey initially, a bag of this lasts me a year (or longer!), as you use such tiny amounts in cakes, cookies/puddings for thickening, texture enhancing or stiffening up your cauli-mash. In this recipe, only ¼-½ tsp. is needed to do the job. When mine clumps up in storage, I just run it through my small food/coffee grinder to powder it again. 🙂
Glucomannan is what shirataki noodles are made from, if you do not know this factoid. I purchase my glucomannan on-line at Netrition.com, but there are other sources. Bob’s Red Mill line carries it I believe. Glucomannan is pure fiber so it doesn’t impact the carb count in your recipes. It will firm up your mashed cauliflower if you have problems with moisture bleeding out of the cauliflower after whipping, resulting in a “soupy” batch of cauli-mash. There is some literature that declares glucomannan also helps maintain healthy blood glucose levels, so a win-win in more ways than one! This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto diets.
INGREDIENTS:
1 medium head cauliflower
4 T. butter
2 T. cream cheese
1/8-¼ tsp. sea salt
¼-½ tsp. glucomannan powder
VARIATION: Add 2-4 T. heavy cream for even richer results
DIRECTIONS: Stem and cut up cauliflower into flowerettes. Place in 4-qt. saucepan, cover with water and bring to boil. Lower heat to medium and cook until very tender when poked with a knife or fork. Drain off water in a colander or sieve. After water is drained, using the back of a spoon, press the cauliflower against the wall of the colander or sieve to press out even more water until most appears to be released. Spoon back into the saucepan.
Add the butter cheese and salt and whip with a hand mixer or stick blender until very smooth. Add ¼ tsp. of the glucomannan and pulse the blender/mixer a few seconds. If still a pretty loose mixture add the rest of the gluc powder, whipping once again to incorporate it throughout the mixture. The mixture will continue to firm up a little more more as it sits on your table. You don’t want to overdo gluc powder, as it will REALLY get stiff if you put too much! Any leftovers on this dish are fantastic great reheated with a bit of chopped green onion and cheese on top. 😉
NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 servings, each contains: (not including heavy cream)
109 calories, 11.36 g fat, 5.26 g carbs, 2.45 g fiber, 2.81 g NET CARBS, 2.35 g protein, 96.33 g sodium
Buttoni's Low-Carb Recipes 