Do you have a certain dish that, when you think about that dish, it evokes some sort of picture of elegance or sophistication in your mind?  Feel free to laugh, but for my younger version, shrimp cocktail is that dish.  I can't tell you why, but growing up I always saw it as this food associated with lavish meals or parties and people dressed to the nines.  Fast forward from my 15 year old self to now, when "we" don't eat shrimp because Drew has always hated shrimp and now "we" are slightly rag-tag followers of the Maker's Diet and for some reason I have been on a cauliflower kick.  Yes, the above thoughts are related. 



Imagine my intrigue when Bon Appetit published this shrimp cocktail fake out using cauliflower in place of shrimp, par boiled in a poaching liquid to give the cauliflower a taste and texture similar to the shrimp eaten in shrimp cocktail.  I tried the recipe, and, sure enough, it does mimick the taste and texture of shrimp cocktail, but it's vegan, or at the least, vegetarian.  It's a low fat, low calorie snack that should definitely make it into your next elegant gathering for those who don't eat shellfish for whatever reason.  I plan to make this again just because.  I snacked on it for a week. 

Find the original recipe with intro by clicking on the recipe title.  I sort of tampered with it a bit because I didn't want to spend the money for all ingredients and I didn't want cauliflower cocktail overtaking my fridge, so I'll post my changes. 



Poor Man's "Shrimp" Cocktail
from Feb. 2012 Bon Appetit