Paleo Cauliflower Alfredo with Gluten-Free Chicken Meatballs and Sweet Potato Noodles
Try this Paleo Cauliflower Alfredo with Gluten-Free Chicken Meatballs and Sweet Potato recipe
Try this Paleo Cauliflower Alfredo with Gluten-Free Chicken Meatballs and Sweet Potato recipe
- salt and pepper
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 cup chicken broth
- for the pasta:
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 easpoon dried basil
- for the meatballs:
- 1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon minced shallots
- 1 pound lean ground chicken
- 1 medium garlic clove minced
- 2 tablespoons minced parsley to garnish
- for the alfredo:
- half the florets from medium cauliflower
- 3/4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 3 large sweet potatoes peeled, blade d, noodles trimmed
- Carbohydrate 22.0123787216369 g
- Cholesterol 327.52235955 mg
- Fat 57.7636653795264 g
- Fiber 3.82708078077726 g
- Protein 79.7449108194364 g
- Saturated Fat 16.1638778263309 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (529g)
- Sodium 399.860203800191 mg
- Sugar 18.1852979408596 g
- Trans Fat 4.82063752426694 g
- Calories 938 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Make the meatballs: combine all of the meatball ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir together. Then, shape the meat mixture into golf ball sized meatballs, about 8. Place on the baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes or until juices run clear and meat is cooked through.
- Meanwhile, make the sauce: Place the cauliflower florets in a large pot and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat to medium and cook for five to seven minutes or until easily pierced with a fork. Remove the cauliflower with a slotted spoon.
- Heat the one teaspoon of olive oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. When the oil is shimmering, add one garlic clove and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add the shallots and cook for two to three minutes or until translucent. Transfer to a high-speed blender or large food processor, and add the cauliflower, the broth, nutritional yeast, mustard and lemon juice. Generously season with salt and pepper and blend the sauce until creamy, about one minute. Set aside.
- Prepare the pasta: place a large skillet over medium heat and add in the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 7 minutes or until cooked to your preference.
- While pasta cooks, place a small pot over heat and pour in the cauliflower alfredo. Cook until heated and then let simmer until sweet potato noodles are ready.
- When pasta and meatballs are done, transfer the sweet potato noodles to a serving bowl, top with meatballs and pour over the cauliflower alfredo. Garnish with parsley.
Steamy sweet potato strands meet a velvety, dairy-free sauce that coats the tongue with savory depth, topped by browned poultry spheres carrying herbaceous notes of parsley and oregano. Achieving this texture relies entirely on high-shear blending. Standard countertop blenders often leave micro-particles of boiled brassicas suspended in liquid, resulting in a grainy mouthfeel. A high-speed motor forces the cooked cauliflower cells past stainless steel blades at high velocity, mechanically shearing the plant walls until they form a smooth emulsion with chicken broth and nutritional yeast.
The Chemistry of Dairy-Free Creaminess
Traditional alfredo emulsions rely on dairy fats and casein proteins to suspend water and oil. Replicating this mouthfeel without butter or heavy cream requires exploiting the starch and umami compounds found elsewhere. Nutritional yeast supplies glutamates that mimic the savory baseline of parmesan cheese, while the natural starches released from boiling the cauliflower thicken the blending liquid as thermal energy drops. Mustard acts as an emulsifier, containing mucilage and lecithin compounds that bridge the gap between aqueous broth and added olive oil. Sautéing the shallots and garlic beforehand drives off harsh raw allicin compounds through heat, replacing them with sweet, caramelized sulfur notes that blend directly into the sauce.
- Watery sauce results from insufficient blending time; run the machine for a full sixty seconds to thoroughly rupture the plant cell walls.
- Dense meatballs indicate overworking the ground poultry; mix gently until just combined to keep the protein matrix tender.
- Burned garlic during the base sauté happens when the pan is too hot; keep the heat at medium and move continuously for thirty seconds.
