If there's any task I hate more than hauling out a week's worth of garbage to the curb on the eve of trash day, it's having to clean out the fridge beforehand to get rid of all the uneaten leftovers.
This week, I stumbled upon a forgotten head of cauliflower that I'd planned on roasting. It had a few brown spots but not so many that it wasn't usable. With the help of a sturdy kitchen knife, I got rid of them quickly.
Rummaging through the cheese drawer, I found a still-fresh log of mozzarella just begging to be turned into something delicious. The instant answer was to pair it with the cauliflower for a vegetarian take on the popular Italian-American dish Chicken Parm.
I started with a homemade marinara sauce that requires only a handful of pantry ingredients and 20 minutes or so of cooking time on the stove. That's roughly the same time it took to slice a head of cauliflower into "steaks," bread it in egg and breadcrumbs and then fry until crisp in oil.
From there, it was easy to layer the sauce, cauliflower and cheese in a baking dish, and bake until bubbly. The result, about 35 minutes later, was a rich, cheesy and utterly satisfying dish no one felt guilty eating.
