Grilled Cheese without the Bread or Cauliflower Grilled Cheese

Did everyone see the cauliflower grilled cheese sandwich on the Dr. Oz Show or in the video? If you follow the link to view the recipe and watch the video, be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page, as the photo at the top of the page is a photo of a regular grilled cheese sandwich. Confusing, I thought!

I decided to try this. The taste was pretty good, although it does not replace sourdough bread, in my opinion. I would say this is an excellent idea for replacing the bread version occasionally to introduce more veggies into your diet, and to cut down on carbs. 

½ of the sandwich

Below are my results and the slightly modified quantities from the recipe on the Dr. Oz page. I intended to cut the recipe in half for 1 sandwich, which did not work out too well because my large head of cauliflower must have been much larger than the medium sized head used in their recipe.

Ingredients  

• 2 cups shredded cauliflower - the original recipe calls for 1 medium head of riced cauliflower. I measured my cauliflower because I wanted to know how much I had. I got 2 cups from less than ½ a large head, which was enough for 2 sandwiches. The photos here are from 1 very large sandwich.
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 to 3 tablespoons low fat jack or mozzarella cheese, shredded - I had Co-Jack cheese open, so I used that.
• Freshly ground pepper
• Pinch grated nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• ⅓ cup low fat cheddar cheese, shredded - again, I used Co-Jack. Half of the recipe would have been ¼ cup; however, I thought the sandwich looked like it needed more cheese, so I added more.
• ½  teaspoon olive oil

shredded cauliflower

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425°. In a medium mixing bowl combine the shredded cauliflower, egg, 2 to 3 tablespoons of cheese, a few grinds of freshly ground pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg. 

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Mound the cauliflower mixture onto the baking sheet, and flatten it into a thin rectangle about the thickness of thin bread. I wished I had made mine a bit flatter.

ready for the oven

For 2 sandwiches, cut the cauliflower into 4 equal squares with a knife. I made only 1 large sandwich in the photos shown here.

Bake in preheated oven until lightly browned—12 to 14 minutes. Let the slices cool before gently removing them from the baking sheet.

Heat a non-stick pan, add one teaspoon of olive oil, place slices side-by-side, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Do not skip this step. I put the slices on the skillet with the browned side up and added the cheese right away, because I thought it would be crispy enough. When it was done, I could tell that it would have been better if I had browned both sides in the skillet also. 

on the griddle

Turn the slices over. Sprinkle most of the cheese evenly over half of the slices, cover with the second slices, press down, and cook until the cheese starts melting. 

Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the sandwiches (yes, on the outside of the slices). Flip the sandwich and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes on the other side. As long as you are using a non-stick pan with a bit of olive oil, this will not stick to the pan.