Cheesy Cauliflower Casserole (vegan, gluten-free & Plant Paradox friendly)

One image of Thanksgiving that appears in my mind whilst contemplating a the dinner table is a casserole dish. Some large, plexiglass glass cook piece is filled to the brim with warm goodness, ready to be dished out to every member of the family, with leftovers still remaining.

What goes inside the dish differs from family to family, mother to mother, and culture to culture, but the feeling of warmth, comfort, and family remains the same.

 

For the past week, I’ve in-between making a layered, cauliflower, artichoke casserole or some sort of stuffing, but decided to air on the side of casseroles because of how frickin’ easy they are!

Plus, being that the only definition of a casserole I can think of is “a bunch of stuff baked inside a casserole dish,” pretty much anything can be used to make one, which allows room for creative flexibility.

To prep the dang thing, we start out by roasting cauliflower florets with olive and sea sat, which cooks the cauliflower without removing its structural integrity, the way that boiling often does. To install umami sweetness, we reduce four sweet onions to a mere fraction of their original size through a process known as caramelization.

 

Essentially, caramelization is the act of removing moisture from a food, therefore concentrating its sweetness and overall flavor. Imagine that our raw onions are like a black cup of black coffee, and caramelizing that cup of coffee turns it into a single shot of espresso. Despite its size, the espresso is more robust, sweet, and coffee-tasting than the cup of black coffee. This is exactly what happens with our onions; through caremalization, we make an onion taste more onion-y than it is to begin with.

Using caramelized onions in place of raw or sautéed onions is important as the excess moisture that’s driven out would otherwise be left swimming in the bottom of the casserole, and being that we’re intentionally going to add sauce, we don’t need any unwanted moisture.

Oh, and about that sauce! It’s super simple – coconut milk, water, freshly minced garlic, nutritional yeast, salt, and tapioca starch. Shake it all up, bring it a boil, and you’re ready to go. This thick sauce holds the veggies together, lending the dish a coherent consistency, as opposed to all of the food falling away from each other the moment your fork hits the plate.

From this casserole, you can expect vibes of baked mac ’n’ cheese, roasted vegetables, and alfredo sauce. All in all, this dish is simple & rewarding – one casserole serving is enough for five side dishes, or two to three main entrees. And we think that it’s appearance would not be disputed among gusts at your dinner table this Thursday.

If you like what your taste buds are tellin’ ya, leave behind a nice rating, share your thoughts with us in the comments, or show us your creations by tagging @noeggsorham on Instagram.

Before we’re out of here, we’d like to know what recipes you guys would like to see in December! If there’s an entree, drink, dessert, or side-dish that you’ve always wanted to see become vegan, sugar-free, and lectin-free, let us know through this page! When you submit your favorite dish, it goes straight to our inbox – and we’ve made 90% of the requests we’ve receive so far. 

Cheers!
Ryan & Kim