Cauliflower in Tomato Sauce

Cauliflower florets stewed in a flavorsome tomato sauce, something simple and healthy for days when you feel like you really have to do something good for your body (maybe following an excess day).

This is a typical Romanian recipe, something we call “Mancare de …”. The translation would be something like “Meal of…” and the possibilities are just endless. You can take just about any veggie you like, you can use a mixture of different vegetables, you can add chicken, pork or beef, even rabbit or turkey.

My favorite variations, aside cauliflower, are with eggplants or green beans, which actually I didn’t like much as a child. I wasn’t really keen on eating anything with green beans in it, except maybe the garlic loaded green bean salad, the amounts of garlic and oil my grandma used completely covered the green bean taste. 🙂 That changed as I got a little bit older, but I have to say that I still don’t like the green bean soup my grandma used to make. I have also made or eaten this with peas (amazing), zucchini (not my favorite), kohlrabi (very delicate), potatoes like these New Potatoes in Tomato Sauce (love it), carrots (love it too), Eggplants in Tomato Sauce and cabbage (super) and maybe some other veggies I just don’t remember right now. The way of making these dishes and the spices used differ slightly from vegetable to vegetable, but the main procedure remains the same.

This would make a great vegetarian/ vegan meal on its own, which you can serve with mashed potatoes (my favorite side dish for this). Boiled potatoes or polenta would also be a great choice. You can, of course, serve this with rice, pasta or even bulgur or quinoa, it just won’t be so Romanian anymore, but it would still taste great. This also makes a great side dish for any kind of meat.

I chose to post this recipe right now to so that I have something suitable for the new Casual Veggie link party today. The motto is veggie potluck recipes. I was not really sure what was meant with potluck recipes, I just thought it might be something in this direction.

In case you didn’t see my previous Casual Veggies posts (this and this), I can tell you again about this wonderful project started by Mollie from Parsley and Pumpkins. It is an e-cookbook, containing 166 recipes featuring 29 vegetables. There are recipes sent in by 48 bloggers and below you will find a list of some of them participating in today’s link party. Make sure to check them out, you will definitely find things to your own taste.

And if you decide that you definitely have to own this book, please use the link on the right sidebar. This way you will help support Where Is My Spoon and I would be very grateful for it.

A Southern Grace, Black and Tan Orange  

Family Food on the Table, Fall Harvest Rice Salad 

Family For Health, Autumn Squash Chicken Stew

My Happy Belly, Sweet Roasted Squash 

Parsley and Pumpkins, Kohlrabi Cranberry Salad 

Real Simple Good, Kale and Cabbage Salad

The Delicious Balance, Cauliflower Stuffed Acorn Squash

The Weekly Menu, Italian Veggie Popover Pizza 

Treble in the Kitchen, Kale Salad with Acorn Squash and Spiced Walnuts  

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Cauliflower in Tomato Sauce

Rating  5.0 from 1 reviews

Prep time:  20 mins

Cook time:  40 mins

Total time:  1 hour

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 can (800 g/ 28 oz) chopped tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon vegetable broth powder (I always use organic and without monosodium glutamate
• 1 teaspoon dry celery leaves or dry lovage
• 800 g/ 1 ¾ lbs cauliflower
• red pepper flakes, optional
• 1 small bunch of parsley
• salt and pepper
• pinch of sugar

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a larger sauce pan. Chop the onions and the garlic cloves very finely. Cook the onions in the oil until translucent, add the garlic and cook very shortly until fragrant. You can add some red pepper flakes to taste at this point.
2. Add the chopped tomatoes, vegetable broth powder, dry herbs and a pinch of sugar. Bring to a boil and cook for about 10-15 minutes on a medium flame.
3. In the meantime clean the cauliflower and divide it into smallish florets. Chop the stem into small cubes. Add everything to the pan, bring again to a boil and cook until the cauliflower is tender but not mushy. This will take about 15 minutes.
4. Adjust the taste with salt, pepper and one extra pinch of sugar if necessary.
5. Serve with mashed or boiled potatoes.

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