Sharing with you gluten-free, low in carbohydrates, summer-favorite tarts featuring Cauliflower Crust loaded with fresh summer veggies.
Clean taste, good for health and perfect for gluten-free diet!
Cauliflower crust tarts are great healthy appetizer! And good news!! these have great nutrition value and are totally kids friendly!
We eat a lot of cauliflower in Indian Cuisine. So when I made Curried Cauliflower Rice first time for Vishal, not just him but I also felt like eating Curried Cauliflower just shredded a little finer than we usually eat. We ended up eating it with Indian flat bread like a regular Indian Meal!
SO!! my idea of low-carb dinner of just cauliflower rice not worked at-all!! though, I have not stopped trying yet!!
Recently, I found these rainbow, heirloom cauliflowers in local farmer's market. I thought, if not cauliflower rice, I can start making some crusts (very popular these days!!) with cauliflower and different color may help me convince my picky eater and me of course!!
I started with making a green cauliflower crust and then loaded it with combination of fresh veggies to make fresh vegetable tarts for snack on weekend. This time!! It was great success!!!
I made sure that it does not remind Vishal of Indian Gobi (cauliflower) Bread. Or he will sandwich the tart in two pieces of flat bread and eat it!! literally!! I mean it!! When he is not convinced, he is NOT convinced!! I know the reaction in first 5 seconds of first bite!
This time, we both loved, I mean adored Fresh Tarts! And cauliflower crust was a pleasant surprise. Tasted more like crust, less like Indian Cauliflower :) job well done! It was lite on stomach and loaded with fresh flavors!
I made cauliflower crust for fresh tarts with Heirloom green cauliflower. You can use regular white cauliflower too. And toppings!! Since toppings were fresh not baked, there are endless possibilities. Any fresh salad combination you like, you can top on these low-carb crusts. I used greek-style olive and feta, cherry-tomato, arugula and blue cheese.
I figured, cauliflower crust tart was a great way to introduce, new healthy crust alternative to picky eaters. It is much less work and masks the taste of cauliflower pretty darn awesome!
Look at the crust yourself! Thin and crispy at the edges!! Who will eat wheat crust now??
Making of Cauliflower Crust
Making a good crust is the key here!! Once you nailed the crust, you can do low-carbs and gluten-free wonders with cauliflower. And it is pretty easy to make. Plus, any leftover cauliflower dough will stay good in refrigerator for 2-3 days. So make once and enjoy 2-3 times a week.
Cauliflower Dough
1. Pick you favorite colored cauliflower, I used Green, yellow is fine too. Make sure to rinse it whole under running water once. Pat dry, then break the florets into small chunks. Discard the stems and leaves. Pulse floret chunks in food processor (only a handful at a time). If you add more, the consistency will not be fine. And bigger chunks will make crust uneven.
Note: If you don't have food processor, you can also grate cauliflower using large-holes hand-grater. Or very fine chop it using two knifes.
2. Transfer the shredded cauliflower to a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 3 minutes till cauliflower is tender or bake in preheated oven at 375 F for 10 minutes.
3. Transfer the cooked cauliflower to a sieve lined with two sheets of cheese-cloth. Let it cool down a bit.
4. Once easy to handle, hold four corners of cheese cloth together and then squeeze the water from cauliflower. This is THE MOST IMPORTANT step. If cauliflower has moisture, crust will not be crispy. So give it some love, squeeze hard, do some muscle work here and make it happen.
5. Once water is out, cauliflower looks pretty dry. Add the binding and flavorings as listed in ingredient list. Mix to make cauliflower dough.
Cauliflower Crust Tart Shells
1. Spread 1/4 cup of dough into removable, individual size, pre-oiled pie-molds. You can also use single pie-pan.
2. Spread it evenly up to the edges, making sure there are no lumps.
3. Bake in 450 F pre-heated oven for 22 to 24 minutes or until edges of cauliflower pie crust are crispy and moved away from pie molds.
Voila!! Cauliflower Tart Shells are ready!! Now, making fresh tarts is piece of cake!!
Enjoy!!
And if you wanna pin all steps for later reference. Just pin this picture!!
How easy does that sound?
Heirloom Cauliflower Crust Tarts
Total Time: Prep Time: Cook Time: Cuisine: American (Appetizer) Difficulty: Easy
Yields: 6 Servings - Serves: 6
Ingredients
Cauliflower Crust Dough
Topping 1 - Cherry tomato and Blue Cheese
Topping 2 - Greek Olive and Tomato
Smart Swap: Use two egg-whites instead of one whole egg to make No-Cholesterol Crust
Directions
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1.Pat dry, then break the cauliflower florets into small chunks. Discard the stems and leaves. Pulse floret chunks in food processor (only a handful at a time). If you add more, the consistency will not be fine. And bigger chunks will make crust uneven. 2.Transfer the shredded cauliflower to a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 3 minutes till cauliflower is tender or bake in preheated oven at 375 F for 10 minutes. - 3.Transfer the cooked cauliflower to a sieve lined with two sheets of cheese-cloth. Let it cool down a bit. 4.Hold four corners of cheese cloth together and then squeeze the water from cauliflower as much as you can.
- 5. Cauliflower will be pretty dry at this stage. 6. Preheat oven at 450 F. Add the binding and flavorings as listed in ingredient list. Mix everything using hand/or spatula to make cauliflower dough.
- 7.Oil pie molds. Evenly spread 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup of dough into each pie-mold. Gently press with hand to make even layer. You can oil your hand to avoid sticking situations. 8.Bake in preheated oven for 22-25 minutes or until edges of cauliflower pie crust are crispy and has left the edges of pie molds.
- 9.Top with Olive and tomato toppings on a few and cherry tomato-blue cheese on other. Enjoy fresh and healthy appetizer with far less calories and carbs than regular tarts!
Savita's Notes:
You can use the same dough to make Cauliflower Crust Pizza too! Cauliflower Crust Dough Recipe doubles easily. You can make dough with two or three cauliflower to serve a bigger crowed/ for a party. These tarts are super healthy and great nutritional appetizer for kids too. Add some pineapple, mango and almonds to make it more appealing for kids.
I consider dairy and cheese okay for Paleo diet. So for me, this Cauliflower Tarts can be eaten under Paleo Diet.
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