Waterless Cauliflower and Chard (No Added Fat)

I found red chard on sale at our coop today; we've not had chard in a while, and I had a head of cauliflower in the refrigerator, so I thought of cooking a chard and cauliflower dish. Preparing it waterlessly (using a quality Saladmaster pan and cooking, covered, on low) sounded good. Here is what I did.


Ingredients

• 2/3 cup onion cut into approx. 1/4" x 3/4" pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, finely (1/8") diced
• 5 cups (maybe 2/3 or a bit more of a medium head) cauliflower florets
• approximately 3 cups (packed) greens (I used red chard, but other kinds of chard, kale, or, if you like a bit more "bit", mustard greens could be used instead); I used 5 chard leaves, cut the stems into 1/2" lengths to make up about 3/4 cup, then hand stripped the leaves to approximately 1" pieces (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 1/4 t (or to taste) salt
• 1/4 t turmeric
• (optional) 1/4 t garlic powder
• (optional) 1/4 t black sesame seed

Process

1. I put into a large Saladmaster stock pan, in this order, the onion, garlic, cauliflower, greens, salt, and turmeric
2. I turned the heat on to medium high and covered the pan; after a few minutes, the vapor release started jiggling, whereupon I reduced heat to low till the release stopped moving about, and cooked for 20m
3. I then opened the pan, mixed in the garlic powder and sesame seed, and served

I also had some fresh French baguette, and sauteed on a cast iron pan with no oil (I first maybe 1/2 t canola oil on the warming pan for half a minute then wiped the oil off just to get a very light coating on the pan) some tempeh.

Results

Everybody liked dinner! The cauliflower was good but could have cooked just a bit more to be more tender. A little more turmeric would have made the color more vibrant (and, of course, more healthy).

Ideas for the future

While I love pressure cooking, I always also get good results with waterless cooking. I love what the pressure cooker (very soft and, cooked for a few minutes, gravy-like) and waterless cooking (tender) does to cauliflower. I should experiment with more waterless cauliflower dishes - more vegetables like carrots, peas, and green beans would be good. A surprise element like pomegranate kernels would be fun.