You Need To Know About Ina Garten's Genius Cauliflower Toast

We can't help but gush and guffaw over Ina Garten. Everybody does because she is all that, and then some. The host of Food Network's "Barefoot Contessa" has really broken down barriers with her cooking show. Whether you are young, old, or somewhere in between, a celebrity or non-celebrity, chances are you have jumped on the Garten bandwagon with all her other obsessed fans. We get it. The cookbook author is the neighbor we all wished we had. Imagine what it would be like to live next door to Garten and just pop over to borrow a cup of sugar. Would she invite you in for coffee and cake? Would she be whipping up one of her famous chicken dinners for her husband Jeffrey? The possibilities are limitless.

Garten always has our tongues wagging about some recipe and this one is going to really make you salivate. The recipe is from her 2018 cookbook, "Cook Like a Pro," and we have to say if you love avocado toast, you are going to be over the moon with Garten's cauliflower toast. It hits all kinds of savory notes, with a hint of sweet that make us want to sink our teeth into it and crack open a bottle of Topo Chico or our favorite wine to enjoy along with it. 

If you watch the video of Garten preparing this sumptuous appetizer, she starts by cutting up two pounds of cauliflower and tossing it with olive oil. Garten says it needs a lot of it because the cauliflower soaks it up. Then comes the red pepper flakes to give it a "little underlying heat," some salt, and then it's time for roasting. Once the cauliflower is toasty brown and cooled, then comes all the other yummy ingredients. Garten adds the cauliflower to a bowl before adding mascarpone cheese, which she affectionately refers to as "Italian cream cheese." The celebrity chef shares that you want the mascarpone at room temperature so it will mix well. Then comes the julienned prosciutto and the shredded Gruyère cheese, topped off with a little nutmeg for an extra hint of flavor.

For the toast, Garten suggests country bread noting that white bread will just fall apart. She piles her cauliflower mixture on several pieces of bread and toasts them under the broiler for a few minutes. The end result looks ah-mazing, and Garten tops it off with a little bit of chives and sea salt. Crunchy, crusty, and cheesy, it looks delish. Even Garten seems pretty proud of how her cauliflower toast turns out, and shares that this recipe takes a "lowly" vegetable like cauliflower and turns it into something "luxurious." We can't wait to try it!