GF: Roasted Cauliflower Cheeseburger Casserole

Roasted Cauliflower Cheeseburger Casserole

One of the hardest things for people going gluten-free, or fully grain free, is replacing things they loved - usually comfort or fast food options like a burger. To me the easiest way is just to skip the bun altogether - you may just be amazed how much you enjoy it more without the bun, really just for convenience of eating, drowning out the other flavors of the meat and condiments. But another way is to deconstruct it and make it into a different dish with similar ingredients.

Today I got out ground beef and was thinking what to do with it. Yesterday my wife and I had tastes for hamburgers but opted for something else. I didn't want to cook up burger patties and was looking for side options. When I picked out cauliflower, I thought - why not make some casserole? Initially thinking using the cauliflower as a rice substitute, I decided to try to just use the full florets in a dish. My mind went back to burgers. I know I have seen hamburger type casseroles (such as that Helper in the store) so I searched for 'cauliflower ground beef' recipes and found a few to work with.

I combined and edited some recipes and here is my version.

I decided to roast the cauliflower first (versus steam or otherwise cook)
to make them a little less mushy and maybe a bit more tater tot like.

Cooked the meat with onions & garlic and added a
tomato/mustard sauce with pickles
for all the best hamburger flavors

You gotta have cheese for a 'cheeseburger' recipe

All the ingredients together and ready to bake

Ingredients

• 1 lb Ground Beef
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tbsp. oil
• 1/4 cup diced pickles
• 6 oz. tomato paste
• 3 tbsp. mustard
• 1 tbsp. cider vinegar
• 1 bag frozen cauliflower (14.4 oz)
• Cooking spray
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. starch/flour (gf option like Arrowroot, or whatever you want to use)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup cheese, shredded (you pick - cheddar, american, whatever)
• salt, pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Put cauliflower florets in a casserole dish, spray with cooking spray and salt and pepper to taste, broil on low until florets just start to get caramelized.
2. In a large skillet add oil and cook onions until translucent.
3. Add ground beef and garlic, salt & pepper to taste, and cook until beef browned. Drain excess fat.
4. In a small bowl combine tomato paste, mustard, vinegar. Add pickles and tomato sauce mixture to ground beef.
5. In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in starch/flour until thickened. Stir in cheese and milk until cheese melted.
6. Combine meat sauce with cauliflower in casserole dish, then pour and spread cheese sauce over. If you wanted you could add more shredded cheese on top.
7. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.