Receta Mediterranean Monday – Cauliflower with Feta and Olives
Filed in Mediterranean Food on January 27, 2014 with no comments
Let’s call this Greek Week II. I proclaimed last week Greek Week, only to promptly be felled with a stomach bug. So last week was more “crackers and ginger ale” week than Greek Week in my house. Hopefully you fared better.
Sometimes it is difficult to follow a Mediterranean style diet in the winter. The Mediterranean foods that we hold so dear are by their very nature, summer foods. All those fresh vegetables, salads and the like – things that are hard to come by when the thermometer is below freezing. Of course they have winter in the Mediterranean region too. And the people there still eat!
Last week we cooked with winter squash, this week it is another winter vegetable favorite, cauliflower. If you only eat your cauliflower dipped in ranch sauce or drowned in cheese sauce, you will be pleasantly surprised with this tangy recipe. The cauliflower is combined with Feta cheese, Kalamata olives, and chopped tomato – I used fresh but I bet canned would be just as good. It makes for a great side dish. I served it with a bean dish, steamed green beans and homemade olive bread.
As with many of the recipes I share here, this was inspired by a recipe found in Mediterranean Harvest by Martha Rose Shulman. I do apologize for the photo. We ate most of the cauliflower before I got a picture, and the day is really too gray for photography!
Recipe:
- 1/2 head cauliflower, broken into florets
- 2 large Roma tomatoes, chopped
- 1 Tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- 3 Tbsp broken walnut meats
- 1/4 cup halved Kalamata olives
- 3/4 cup crumbled Feta cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 Tbsp fine bread crumbs
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Rinse cauliflower florets and partially cook in the microwave, about 2 minutes.
In a bowl, toss together the tomatoes, oil, walnuts, olives and cauliflower. Spoon into a greased, one quart baking dish.
Evenly distribute the Feta cheese over the cauliflower mixture. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and lightly drizzle with additional olive oil.
Bake for 35 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.
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About the Author
Renee Pottle, an author and heart-healthy educator, loves to explore and write about the Mediterranean Diet. She blogs at SeedToPantry.com and HestiasKitchen.com.