Photo credit: Rachael Ray Show
"Does This Work!?"— hosted by senior culinary producer Jeanette Donnarumma — delves into the great big world of trendy, viral recipes that may or may not work. Don't miss a minute of her delicious hits and messy misses by subscribing here.
Yes, Cauliflower Grilled Cheese is exactly what it sounds like. No bread, no gluten -- just vegetables and cheese. Skeptical? Well, suffice to say that my official stance on the ‘cauliflower replaces carbs’ situation is equal parts excited and horrified.
In fact, this pretty much sums it up for me:
Despite my doubts, when it was time to shoot episode 3 of “Does This Work!?”, I knew it was time to take the cauliflower rice trend head on -- and I invite you to join me on my journey!
Cauliflower grilled cheese starts with just that ... a whole lot of cauliflower rice. This popular substitute for carbs is somewhat easy to make in the food processor, but my best piece of advice to keep the mess in the kitchen to a minimum is to just buy it. (And then turn it into my favorite 5-minute side dish!)
But since the whole point of this show is to *not* stray from the recipe, I didn't ditch the food processor this time. And after a hearty fight with it, my cauliflower rice was ready to be mixed with eggs, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, dried oregano, salt, pepper and fresh chopped parsley. Now, I was expecting the mixture to be pretty wet -- and it was -- but not quite as bad as it could have been. The true test, though, came when it was time for the flip.
But we'll get there!
Next, it was time to scoop these “bread slices” onto a preheated pan. I sprayed the pan with a bit of olive oil cooking spray, even though I’d traditionally use a little butter if I were making a real grilled cheese. (Again, on this show, we do what the internet says!) I scooped the mixture onto the pan, waited for it to cook, gave it a flip and let’s just say my gut was right…
Rachael Ray Show
“Can Jeanette fix it!?” asked the room -- and you know what, I had a feeling I could! I’m a cauliflower crust pro, and I wasn't going to let one failed cauliflower grilled cheese recipe count me out.
So, a few rounds in the microwave and few burned fingers later,I was finally satisfied with my cauliflower rice. I stuck to the original recipe for the remainder of it, held my breath, and we had some cauliflower bread slice-flipping success!
Multiple hours and three hungry tummies later, I brought in two of my favorite (and most judgy) kitchenmates, Kate Bennert and Grant Melton (you know Grant, from his series “So Basic”!).
Did my new version of Cauliflower Grilled Cheese taste like a real grilled cheese!? Did it stay together!? Did they like it or did I have to buy them lunch? Check out the video above to find out.
