Roasted Cauliflower

[redfox]

Finally got some affordable cauliflower and am roasting it right now in the new oven of our new abode. I am going to try not flipping it, if it lets me. Now that we have an exciting OVEN WINDOW and OVEN LIGHT, I can keep an eye on it. I would love to discover I could get by without flipping. I hope cauliflower will be cheaper this year than last year. Tonight's dinner: the cauliflower topped with a fried egg for each of us. Atop the fried egg will be what Laurie Colwin calls Condiment. On the side, cold Indian carrot salad. I can hardly wait.

Edited to fix the link.

Edited April 13, 2005 by redfox (log)

[Sackville]

This was darn good. I'm still not getting the "french fry" taste but it is definitely a pleaser for old and young alike!

[Dejah]

So glad I found this thread. We have been eating a lot of roast cauliflower, stir-fried cauliflower, etc. etc on our diet. I want french fries; and maybe now I can!

[divalasvegas]

Years ago on the Food Network show, Cooking Live with Sara Moulton, she had a guest on, Chef John Ash, demonstrating how to use various nut oils when oven roasting vegetables. The oils he used were cold-pressed nut oils made by a company called California Press. They produced oils from walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, etc. Unfortunately, I believe they are out of business. Anyway, I believe he suggested using hazelnut oil for cauliflower along with salt and pepper, and a little garlic and that depending on the oil you used, a superior result would be achieved by matching the right oil with the right vegetable (or something like that).

Has anyone had success doing this? And does anyone know if California Press is back in business? It's a shame since they seemed to have had such lovely products.

[Toliver]

And does anyone know if California Press is back in business?  It's a shame since they seemed to have had such lovely products.

←

By Googling, I found this address and phone number for them:

California Press

6200 Washington St.

Yountville, CA 94579

(707) 944-0343

In another Google, I found this email for them:

nutchief@californiapress.com

I haven't tried either one so I can't guarantee they'll work.

[divalasvegas]

And does anyone know if California Press is back in business?  It's a shame since they seemed to have had such lovely products.

←

By Googling, I found this address and phone number for them:

California Press

6200 Washington St.

Yountville, CA 94579

(707) 944-0343

In another Google, I found this email for them:

nutchief@californiapress.com

I haven't tried either one so I can't guarantee they'll work.

←

Thanks so much Tolliver. However, I tried both the phone number and email address. No dice. They're gone I guess. It's hard to believe that a company making such beautiful, artisnal products couldn't find a buyer or investor to keep them going. Even more disappointing when you see a mega-billion dollar company like Archer Daniels Midland spending millions to come up a "patented process" to alter existing oils to create a cooking oil that doesn't act like a cooking oil within the human body.

An explanation of how this product works can be found here:

http://www.enovaoil.com/about/works.asp

Gag.

[bloviatrix]

Years ago on the Food Network show, Cooking Live with Sara Moulton, she had a guest on, Chef John Ash, demonstrating how to use various nut oils when oven roasting vegetables.  The oils he used were cold-pressed nut oils made by a company called California Press.  They produced oils from walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, etc.  Unfortunately, I believe they are out of business.  Anyway, I believe he suggested using hazelnut oil for cauliflower along with salt and pepper, and a little garlic and that depending on the oil you used, a superior result would be achieved by matching the right oil with the right vegetable (or something like that).

Has anyone had success doing this?  And does anyone know if California Press is back in business?  It's a shame since they seemed to have had such lovely products.

←

Spectrum Naturals has a whole range of nut oils. You can find them in Whole Foods and any health food store.

[sabiha]

Since I saw this thread I've been waiting to try and make some but we've been having a new kitchen built The builders are doing the last few things today so I'm planning on making it as part of my birthday dinner tomorrow

[k43]

So let's see some pictures.

[LittleWing]

Anyway, I believe he suggested using hazelnut oil for cauliflower along with salt and pepper, and a little garlic and that depending on the oil you used, a superior result would be achieved by matching the right oil with the right vegetable (or something like that).

←

I have some good quality cold-pressed walnut oil, do you guys think that is a good match for either cauliflower or asparagus?

ps. I've actually loved cauliflower since I was little, when I was served raw cauliflower with blue cheese by a friend's parents. In Buffalo, we ate everything with blue cheese. Blue cheese dressing, not bleu cheese crumbles, that is.

Edited May 20, 2005 by LittleWing (log)

[barolo]

Walnut oil and cauliflower would be a great match.

[rooftop1000]

So for some reason I only have 1 cookie sheet an Airbake on at that....oh well half in a cheap roasting pan half on a good cookie sheet.....just went in.

I have just tasted my first bite of cauliflower...raw...Yech we shall see, at least the steak will be good even if I have to grill in the rain

we will revisit this in an hour or so I went with 350 to give myself leeway and wait for the rain to stop

T

[rooftop1000]

OK I could eat this again ... certainly better than raw

some bits taste like homefries some taste like brussle sprouts some tast like...ummm vegetable i dunno

Tracey

[Chufi]

Walnut oil and cauliflower would be a great match.

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Yes. Sesame oil is also great. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but I did a salad of roast cauliflower, chickpeas, sesame oil dressing. Wonderful.

Tonight I roasted my first broccoli. When it looked ready, I sprinkled some sesame seeds over and roasted for a couple of minutes more. Drizzled with sesame oil when it came out of the oven and served over a simple noodle dish.

Wow.

The best broccoli ever!! Even my husband (who does not really like broccoli) loved it. I can't wait to feed this to guests, the intensified flavor is so incredible...

Edited June 12, 2005 by Chufi (log)

[dockhl]

(Also posted in Whats for Dinner thread).....y'all are such an inspiration.........

OK, so it doesn't MATTER that it was 96 degrees in Paso Robles today, most of them still in my house when I got home from work..................

yesterday I was reading the Roasted Cauliflower Thread and was obsessing ...........bought a cauliflower on the way home and popped that puppy in a 400' oven after tossing with a little Trader Joe's Garlic Oil and a smidge of melted chicken fat from a roasted chick.........lots of ground pepper (fresh, of course) and kosher salt.

Chopped up some chervil and parsley, slivered some roasted chicken and ESPECIALLY the skin and made up a pot of gemelli pasta. So, here I am, rather 'warm' in this friggin' kitchenwondering if it was all going to be worth it. After all,cauliflower is a WINTER vegetable, and it was anything but frosty in that kitchen. Slipped the chicken skin in for the last 10 minutes to get crispy.........

so crispy crunchy brown cauliflower mixed with gemelli sauced with a chicken glaze, roasted chicken slivers, herbs and a teeny little bit of Parmesan TOPPED with that brittle chicken skin........... seved at room temp with a cold crisp Pinot Grigio...............

Worth it? OH YEAH !

BTW,I can also taste the slight bitterness; I LIKE bitter in many things and I did here but it was a sweet/bitter combo........

[Toliver]

Mayhaw Man (Brooks) posted in the "Behold my butt!, Any tips for improving it?" discussion yet another method of satisfying the roasted cauliflower addiction - Roasting cauliflower on the BBQ:

It was really good. All I did was put it on when I pulled the meat was to do the usual soak in evoo, cracked pepper and some sea salt- I then put it away from the charcoal pile, put the vent holes right on top of the cauliflower and opened the thing up, top and bottom, wide open. It heated up quickly and the stuff took about twenty minutes to reach the califlower level of "al dente" that I like. It had a nice, but not too, smoky flavor to it along with the usual roasted cauliflower flavor. I will do this again and again. It was simple and really, really good.

Now that BBQ season is upon us once again, I am eager to give this a try. It sounds great.

[ronnie_suburban]

Mayhaw Man (Brooks) posted in the "Behold my butt!, Any tips for improving it?" discussion yet another method of satisfying the roasted cauliflower addiction - Roasting cauliflower on the BBQ:

It was really good. All I did was put it on when I pulled the meat was to do the usual soak in evoo, cracked pepper and some sea salt- I then put it away from the charcoal pile, put the vent holes right on top of the cauliflower and opened the thing up, top and bottom, wide open. It heated up quickly and the stuff took about twenty minutes to reach the califlower level of "al dente" that I like. It had a nice, but not too, smoky flavor to it along with the usual roasted cauliflower flavor. I will do this again and again. It was simple and really, really good.

Now that BBQ season is upon us once again, I am eager to give this a try. It sounds great.

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I read it there, I'm reading it here and I'm absolutely going to try this before the week is out.

=R=

[Joann]

Just finished reading this thread...................had to pick up a head at Fresh Market. $3.99 plus tax.

This had better be really good! It's a "light" meal so we'll start with Proscuitto/Melon salad and finish with a Pear/Jasmine Sorbet. Yummmmm.

[ludja]

Just finished reading this thread...................had to pick up a head at Fresh Market.   $3.99 plus tax.

This had better be really good! It's a "light" meal so we'll start with Proscuitto/Melon salad and finish with a Pear/Jasmine Sorbet. Yummmmm.

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It is good. I roast the cauliflower with some onion also. And in the last ten minutes I add some cherry tomatoes. Toss with pasta like oriechette, a little olive oil, parmigiano, red and black pepper and salt.

I just picked up some cauliflower and tomatoes today to make for dinner. (I was luckier on the price here in northern CA though... $1.29 per large head).

The rest of your menu sounds great. Welcome to egullet Joann!

[Toliver]

I thought I would bump this discussion back up after trying the florets method. I normally use the slice-it-all-up method where the cauliflower is sliced into uniformly thin pieces (core and all). Last night, however, I didn't want to tackle the mess of "kibbles" (as fifi calls them) you get with that method so I just broke the head up into small florets, slicing the larger chunks in half for better roasting.

The end results were definitely a little different than the first method. With the florets method, you get less of the "french fry" effect and flavor and the florets seem to retain more of their cauliflower essence...meaning that the flavor you get when you steam it is there to a minor degree after roasting the florets.

It's definitely a different, but still delicious, outcome.

[Steven Blaski]

I thought I would bump this discussion back up after trying the florets method. I normally use the slice-it-all-up method where the cauliflower is sliced into uniformly thin pieces (core and all).  Last night, however, I didn't want to tackle the mess of "kibbles" (as fifi calls them) you get with that method so I just broke the head up into small florets, slicing the larger chunks in half for better roasting.

The end results were definitely a little different than the first method. With the florets method, you get less of the "french fry" effect and flavor and the florets seem to retain more of their cauliflower essence...meaning that the flavor you get when you steam it is there to a minor degree after roasting the florets.

It's definitely a different, but still delicious, outcome.

←

Thanks for the report -- I was wondering about roasting the florets like that. But I wouldn't describe the "kibbles" as a "mess" to avoid -- in fact, those tiny, crunchy, caramelized bits are my favorite part of the dish!

[kitwilliams]

having tried both methods, i prefer the slicing of the head of cauliflower. the more cut edges you have, the more crisping you achieve.

and i agree. the little kibbles are my favorite bits too!

[Timmaay]

Howdy, I'm new to the whole eG scene (this is in fact my first post here ever), and I see that there are 14 pages in this section. I read 3 or 4 of them, but just wanted to throw in my 2 cents.

My wife and I make this stuff at least once a week, if not more. It's a particularly wonderful side for a steak, for those folks on Atkins.

Since I live so close to the Mexican border (until last month, I could see the Bull fighting stadium from my front door), we added a little Mexican spice.

We slice them all very thin, spray on a little vegetable oil with a spary bottle, then sprinkle on salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a spice here known as "Pico de Gallo". Pico de Gallo may mean something else to other people, but here, it's a red chile-type powder with a bit of lime zest and some other things that I have no idea about. It's good though, and it gives a little bit of a kick to it without being over-powering.

We cook it in the oven at broiling temps (around 550 F) for about 40-45 minutes, or until brown. It's gotta cook for a while so it gets nice and crispy, or it ends up still tasting like cauliflower.

My wife hated cauliflower before this. HATED it. Now she wants it every day.

As such, I'm glad (but not terribly surprised) to see there's a 14 page section dedicated to it.

Edit: Oh yeah, and at the 99 Cents Only store last week, they were selling heads at 2 for $1. I bought all of them (around 15). It's a good thing they freeze well (we slice them first and seal them in freezer bags for easy use later).

Edited November 19, 2005 by Timmaay (log)

[Toliver]

Howdy, I'm new to the whole eG scene (this is in fact my first post here ever), and I see that there are 14 pages in this section...

...It's a good thing they freeze well (we slice them first and seal them in freezer bags for easy use later).

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Welcome Timmaay! Great first post.

I had a question about freezing it, though. Does it tend to dry out (as do most other food items) in the freezer? I'm curious as to whether the texture remains the same.

[Timmaay]

.Welcome Timmaay!  Great first post.

I had a question about freezing it, though. Does it tend to dry out (as do most other food items) in the freezer? I'm curious as to whether the texture remains the same.

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Thanks.

Here's the thing about that... the whole point of this dish is TO dry it out... that's the ideal finished condition (in my opinion). The flavor comes from the seasoning, and and broiling, and the texture should be more crunchy than chewy. If it's not dry enough, it will be too chewy, and it will still feel like a vegetable.

Honestly, most of the moist cauliflower taste should be gone by the time it's ready, or else it will still taste like cauliflower, and not like the delicious snack it turns into. When all is said and done, it should be a mostly dry snack.

As a general rule though, yeah... standard freezers do tend to draw out moisture, But I've found that sub-zero freezers tend to minimize this and keeps things longer at a better condition. With meats in particular, the packaging also matters. To prevent freezer burn, you can wrap the meat tightly in foil first, and then put that inside a freezer bag of vaccuum bag. That can significantly extend the life of a steak, for example, to a few months.

I don't know if you have any room (or money) for a stand-alone sub-zero freezer, but we got our from craigslist for $50, and we just set it up out in the backyard (garages are also nice if you have them).

Edited November 21, 2005 by Timmaay (log)