1. Put a big pot of water on the stove to boil. Once it begins to boil, add lots of kosher salt and bring to a boil again.
2. Chop your cauliflower into chunks. They should be around the same size, but don’t go crazy here. Remember the Grossy rule: Fun comes first! The cauliflower will fall apart but you should not. Add cauliflower to boiling water and boil until knife-tender (that means a knife pierces the cauliflower with little to no resistance).
3. Meanwhile add your oil, garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to a pan and crisp the garlic over MEDIUM heat. This will infuse the oil with so much flavor, and the crispy garlic bits will be the star of the whole show. If you think you have gone too crispy on the garlic, that is highly unlikely.
4. I also just wanna say that as you make this over and over, you can up the garlic or reduce it as you like. This is just the way I tend to like my cauliflower mash, but please take it from here and adapt.
5. Strain the water from your cauliflower and reserve a cup of the water from the pot in case you need it!
6. Add your cauliflower, your crispy garlic, and oil to a bowl.
7. Now it’s time to mash. I always use my immersion blender for mashing. I stick it in the bowl and don’t stop blending until everything is nice and creamy. If things are a bit thick, I throw a little of the reserve cauliflower water until I get the consistency I like.
8. If you do not have an immersion blender, here are other things that work just the same: a stand mixer, a hand mixer, a hand stand mixer (not a thing), a hand masher, a wooden spoon, a fork, or your actual hands but please don’t burn yourself, honey.
9. Once you have landed in your desired location between creamy and chunky, add in some more salt, pepper and red pepper to taste. I also like the textural addition here of each ingredient.
10. Add your cauliflower mash to your serving bowl and, using the back of the spoon, create some peaks and valleys in the top of you mash. Drizzle some olive oil, creating a family of olive oil lakes that you will visit all year long with friends. I have a great Airbnb I can recommend at the top of the highest cauliflower mountain—the sunset is truly incredible.

LOL enjoy!