Israelis love pashidot (plurals of pashtida, which is a crustless pie, or a casserole, or simply put, kugel.) They make it whenever they have guests over, for potlucks, for Shabbat, and most holidays (and especially Shavuot, as it fits especially well with dairy menus.)
The cauliflower and cheese pashtida is hearty enough to be served as a main course for lunch, with a side of salad.
For Passover, simply replace the flour with matzo meal and use a Kosher for Passover baking powder.
Cauliflower and cheese pashtida (kugel)
Course: Pastries & Breads, sidesCuisine: Israeli, JewishDifficulty: Easy10
servings20
minutes1
hour10
minutes1
hour7
minutesPashtida in Hebrew is a general name for casseroles or kugels. What’s common to them all is how easy they are to make and how satisfying they are.
INGREDIENTS
1 medium-large cauliflower
Kosher salt
1 yellow onion, grated (that’s cruel, I know!)
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 cup grated parmesan, plus more for sprinkling
½ cup sour cream
1½ cups all-purpose flour (or matzo meal for Passover)
1½ teaspoons baking powder (Kosher for Passover one for Passover)
¾ teaspoon turmeric powder
½ teaspoon white pepper (black pepper is fine too)
DIRECTIONS
- Oven to 350 F degrees. Grease a 10″ springform pan (or a 9″ square pan) and set aside.
- Chop cauliflower to small pieces (about chickpea size.) You can do it by slicing it lengthwise then chop a few slices together to smaller pieces.
- Bring a saucepan half filled salted water (1 tablespoon kosher salt for every quart of water) to boil over high heat. Add cauliflower and cook for 8 minutes. Drain into a colander and let cauliflower dry and cool down a little while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- Mix grated onion, eggs, oil, parmesan and sour cream in a large bowl. In a separate medium bowl mix flour, baking powder, turmeric, pepper and 2 teaspoons Kosher salt. Add the flour mixture into the egg mixture together with the cooked cauliflower and mix well. Pour into the prepared pan.
- Drizzle the cauliflower mixture with olive oil and sprinkle parmesan all over the top.
- Bake for 60-70 minutes, until the center seems fully cooked and firm to the touch and the top is golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving. You can also serve it warm.
- This pashtida keeps in the fridge up to 5 days.
Can this delicious pashtida be frozen?
Thanks for asking. Yes it can, but like other veggie dishes, it will release some liquid after the freezing and the texture won’t be exactly the same. It would still be fine and tasty though!