Brightly Community Cookbook: Epic-Cure’s Cauliflower Bake

Food recovery organizations across the country are not only distributing meals and reducing waste, they’re empowering communities with access to fresh food and the skills to prepare it.

Epic-Cure is an organization that takes this mission particularly seriously. They bring the philosophy of "food as medicine" to life through their Sustain U cooking classes, where local chefs and senior volunteers teach children and military veterans how to cook nourishing meals.

Ken kindly shared a recipe they teach to make the most of commonly donated ingredients and build kitchen confidence.

Recipe: Cauliflower Bake

Ingredients

• Olive oil

• 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets

• 4 garlic cloves, minced

• Salt & pepper, to taste

• Pinch of red pepper flakes

• 28 oz canned diced tomatoes

• 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

• 1 bay leaf

• ¼ cup breadcrumbs

• 2 cups mozzarella, grated or cubed

Instructions

1. Roast cauliflower with olive oil, salt, and pepper at 400°F until browned.

2. Sauté garlic in olive oil, add tomatoes, red pepper flakes, bay leaf, and seasoning. Simmer 20 minutes. Remove bay leaf.

3. In a baking dish, layer sauce → cauliflower → cheese → breadcrumbs. Repeat.

4. Bake 20 minutes until bubbly.

Image source: The Cook Report