Faux Mashed Potatoes

This is a recipe that I've wanted to try for years and years, but have never worked up enough courage to do so. Lately we've been trying to eat really lean and healthy here at home, and I had a craving for mashed potatoes, so I took the dive and bought a head of cauliflower.

I was not expecting anything great, to be honest. This is one of those recipes that I've heard people rave about but that I was convinced would taste weird. I mean, cauliflower and potatoes couldn't be more different in taste and texture, right?

You guys, mashed cauliflower is amazing. It blew our minds how similar this dish tasted to mashed potatoes. The texture is a teenie-tiny bit different, but the taste is pretty spot on. And it was way easier to make than mashed potatoes (no peeling and much shorter cooking time!) I was so impressed that I had to blog about it and encourage you all to try this not-so-scary-after-all recipe.

All I did was (first) rinse and chop one large head of cauliflower. As you can see I chopped mine pretty fine so it would cook more thoroughly. (You don't want any sneaky tough pieces during the mashing process.)

I put a scant inch of water in the bottom of a 4 qt. pot and got it to a rolling boil before dumping the cauliflower in, with about a tsp. of minced garlic. I covered the pot and let it steam cook for about 15 minutes.

I drained the cauliflower and put it in my stand up mixer (kitchen aid) bowl. (Most recipes recommend using a food processor, which would undoubtedly make a smoother mash but I don't have one, so...) I used the whisk attachment. I added 1/2 stick of butter, some salt, a little more minced garlic, and about 3/4 cup of milk before letting it mix. (Yeah not the healthiest mix ins but I wanted it to taste like mashed potatoes, gosh darn it!)

I garnished with some black pepper and this is what the final product looked like. Amazing, huh?

And I promise - it tasted really, really good. Like, I may never make regular mashed potatoes again good.