Poor Man's "shrimp" Cocktail (Vegan)

Submitted by Wish I Could Cook

"Published in Bon Appetit magazine's reader request section in the February 2012 issue. This recipe comes from chef Kevin Roberts at The Black Sheep restaurant in Richmond, VA. It's a great party option for vegans, vegetarians and people with shellfish allergies."

 

• Ready In: 25mins
• Ingredients: 6
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 1 cup dry crab boil seasoning (such as Zatarain's or Old Bay)
• 1⁄4 cup kosher salt
• 2 yellow onions, quartered
• 6 garlic cloves
• 3 lemons, halved crosswise
• 2 one-pound heads cauliflower, cored and trimmed into 2-inch florets

directions

1. Combine crab boil seasoning, salt, onions, garlic and six quarts of water in a large pot. Squeeze juice from lemons into the pot and add lemon halves. Set pot over high heat and bring liquid to boil. Boil for 10 minutes to allow flavors to meld.
2. Using a slotted spoon, remove onions and lemon halves. Discard.
3. Add cauliflower, turn off heat, cover tightly and let stand until crisp tender, about 5 to 10 minutes. Drain.
4. Spread cauliflower on baking sheet and allow to cool.
5. Serve room temperature or chilled with cocktail sauce for dipping.

Reviews

[Elmotoo]

Interesting. I don't like shrimp but thought this looked like an interesting way to cook cauliflower. The others in the house had a hard thinking of it as a shrimp substitute. I didn't dip any in cocktail sauce, though. DH loves the cooking concept but hated the seasoning because he detected a lot of celery seed. I didn't even look at the ingredients of Old Bay. It was quite zippy but not so much the kids wouldn't eat it. I think this is a fabulous way to cook cauliflower - it imparted a LOT of flavor with very little effort & it wasn't overcooked. PLUS, it's fat free! I'm sending this along to my mom who cooks for heart patients & is always looking for flavorful fat free recipes. Me, I think it could use a bit of butter, ;) Thanks so much for sharing. Made for Veggie Swap 6/12.

 

[Garlic Chick]

I made a half recipe of this yesterday - had cut it out of Bon Apetit last spring. I used a mix of both Old Bay and Zatarain's seasonings. I cut my onions up a bit smaller than called for and quartered my lemon, also cut the garlic in half before cooking. The salt is not so healthy, but other than that, great and very tasty ingredients! The only thing I had a problem with was that I think I cooked the cauliflower a couple of minutes too long, next time I will set a timer. I tasted it when it was still hot and prefer when it was refrigerated. I agree that although it was tasty, I was not fooled into thinking it was shrimp. I used thousand island dressing as the dip (a la crab louie) because I had it around but no cocktail sauce. Thanks for posting, Wish I Could Cook, I think people will enjoy this one.