Creamy Cauliflower Sauce

from http://pinchofyum.com/creamy-cauliflower-sauce

March 18, 2013

This. Sauce. I make it all the time. I use it in tons of recipes. I spoon-feed it to myself straight out of the blender.
So it’s only appropriate that I dedicate an entire post to my all-time favorite, super adaptable, absolutely totally delicious creamy cauliflower sauce. The garlic, butter, creamy cauliflower cooked to perfection all pureed up in that blender (or food processor, because you have a well stocked kitchen unlike me even though I blog about food, say what?) is just life changing.
I honestly have a hard time NOT putting it in every recipe that I make. If something seems to be lacking, this sauce just magically pops into my mind. Bing! Like, hey! maybe a little cauliflower sauce will help this recipe be amazing! Which is a great idea until things start to get out of control as is often the case in my brain, and somehow I find myself wondering if cauliflower sauce would be good in pumpkin bread. Gross. No, it wouldn’t. But maybe…
Too much, Lindsay. Too much.


This sauce is really flexible. It can kinda become anything.
Mostly for me, it becomes Alfredo sauce for my noodles and I call it Healthy Fettuccine Alfredo.

And it can also become creamy cauliflower garlic rice. Good grief, I love this stuff.

Hey guess what? Coming soon it will become sauce for a white pizza. Yeahhhh there’s a reason why I want you to have this recipe in your head. A reason that involves thick yummy whole wheat crust, this sauce, white melty cheese, chicken, tomatoes, and on, and on, and on, and on.

Before I launch you into the recipe, I feel like I should say this: this is not made from cream and butter and flour. It’s made from caul-i-flower. Get it? Flour? Flower? While I personally consider this sauce to be magical, it’s not going to taste like it’s made from cream and butter. Well, actually, it kind of does, and MANY of you have said how much your cauliflower-hating families loved this sauce, so who knows. I just want to remind the skeptics that this is indeed cauliflower sauce, so you can expect it to be at least a little bit, um, cauliflowery.
And creamily delicious.
Did I already mention howmuchIlovethisstuff?

4.9 from 13 reviews

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Creamy Cauliflower Sauce

Author: Pinch of Yum

Serves: makes about 5 cups

 

Ingredients

• 8 large cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 5-6 cups cauliflower florets
• 6-7 cups vegetable broth or water
• 1 teaspoon salt (more to taste)
• ½ teaspoon pepper (more to taste)
• ½ cup milk (more to taste)

Instructions

1. Garlic: Saute the minced garlic with the butter in a large nonstick skillet over low heat. Cook for several minutes or until the garlic is soft and fragrant but not browned (browned or burnt garlic will taste bitter). Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Cauliflower: Bring the water or vegetable broth to a boil in a large pot. Add the cauliflower and cook, covered, for 7-10 minutes or until cauliflower is fork tender. Do not drain.
3. Puree: Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cauliflower pieces to the blender. Add 1 cup vegetable broth or cooking liquid, sauteed garlic/butter, salt, pepper, and milk. Blend or puree for several minutes until the sauce is very smooth, adding more broth or milk depending on how thick you want the sauce. You may have to do this in batches depending on the size of your blender. Serve hot! If the sauce starts to look dry, add a few drops of water, milk, or olive oil.

Notes

I like to add a little bit of olive oil for the flavor and to help keep the sauce really smooth. Several other readers have mentioned that they really liked the addition of Parmesan cheese as well.

**Serving size is 1/2 cup.