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Roasted Cauliflower

sammy

By sammy
in Cooking

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SMW

SMW

Posted
Posted

Great way of serving roasted cauliflower - add it to pasta puttenesca. The roasted cauliflower stretches everything a bit, and goes great with olives and anchovies. I think this is my new favorite pantry dinner.

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  • 2 weeks later...
snowangel

snowangel

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Posted

My kids hated cauliflower so much I had to pay each of them to take a bite of roasted cauliflower. THey not only forgot about the money I offered, but ate a whole head of the roasterd version between them.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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Della

Della

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Well I am reporting back after making the roasted cauliflower last night and I have to say it was yummy! I am going to try it again and play with cooking times and see what happens but here is what I did:

Sliced up one head of cauliflower to about 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick - mostly they were the little pieces with hardly any lacy ones but I was cutting the wrong way at first. Then I put ithe pieces into a bowl, tossed with 1/4 cup evoo, salt and pepper ( i went easy on the salt due to advice I read in the thread).

I used about 3/4 of the cauliflower that I cut up - I used my 1/2 and 1/4 sheet pans (lined with foil and sprayed with a hit of PAM). THe 1/2 sheet pan was just the cauliflower and the 1/4 sheet pan I tossed some red onions in the mix. Cooked at 375 for just under 40 minutes (about 38 1/2) and tossed them every 10 minutes while they cooked. Got very toasty brown and I added some extra salt when I pulled them out. I think they are best just eaten off the sheet pan! It was hard to put them on the plate with the rest of dinner.I was very careful to do a single layer and didn't over crowd.

I will keep on experimenting but I have to say it was worth the effort to read the thread, try something new and want to keep on trying it.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Della

Della

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Eating some right now. 400 degrees, flipped them every 10 minutes for about 30 - 35 minutes or so. Half with just evoo, salt and pepper and half with a black pepper/cayenne mix. I have to say I love it!

We are having this as an "appetizer" to dinner. I love it right off the pan and if I have to wait for the rest of dinner to get on the plate it isn't as crunchy and yummy - so I like to eat ts right away.

This is something I could make a lot of and eat instead of popcorn watching tv. I do that with soybeans sometimes. In fact, I think there is a re-run of LA Law on right now and me, my wine and my roasted cauliflower are going to head over to the tube. Just had to let you all know I am still roasting the vegetable I used to refuse to eat! :biggrin:

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Daddy-A

Daddy-A

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We must be coming into cauliflower season (somewhere in the world), as I've been seeing them for $1 per head at more than one grocery store.

Us too Rachel ... although they were a little small this weekend. Oh well, two heads are always beter than one :rolleyes:

A.

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  • 2 weeks later...
GourmetLight$

GourmetLight$

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:hmmm: I absolutely cannot stop making this and eating this!

I've started using only the large cross-slices and placing them on the outside of the baking sheet. Any large chunks that fall off get placed in the middle. Once I lay them down on the Silpat on the sheet pan, I lightly drizzle with EVOO and then sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. I don't turn them over or move them around while roasting, because the little chunks that fall off get a little too scorched before the big, lacy slices get browned. Don't despair, I've eaten even the most burned little pieces, but don't think the cancer people would agree that it's a good thing! But I do take out the sheet pan and rotate 1/2 way through the baking time.

Anyway, I've now made roasted cauliflower about 30 times, and don't see an end in site, until summer veggies take over my world. That's my confession. :raz:

Cheers,

Carolyn

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."

J.R.R. Tolkien

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Alex

Alex

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Don't despair, I've eaten even the most burned little pieces, but don't think the cancer people would agree that it's a good thing!  But I do take out the sheet pan and rotate 1/2 way through the baking time.

Actually, it's only charred meat that may contain possible carcinogens; veggies are fine. Here's some info from the American Cancer Society. And some more info from Science News.

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

A king can stand people's fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking. -Will Rogers, humorist

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Alex

Alex

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425 posts and counting on this topic...

i have just now only read the last three posts and i was extremely surprised to find that they were still about roasting cauliflower.  on that basis alone i have decided to go to the market and try this tomorrow afternoon.

i cant wait!

ill have to poke around here and look around for tips now...

i was always sort of neutral about cauliflower before tonight.

As a proud participant in the 2003 Heartland Gathering that inspired this thread, I say welcome to the cauli-club, melonpan! I still make this stuff regularly. Last week it was the base for a simple puréed soup using chicken stock, onion, carrot, garam masala, and a touch of cream.

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

A king can stand people's fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking. -Will Rogers, humorist

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  • 3 weeks later...
Chufi

Chufi

Posted
Posted

Yay, new converts!

When I get tired of roasting it just as it is, I often do a spicy version with a mixture of cumin, coriander seeds, cardamom and chili flakes.

This is great in a salad with chickpeas, drizzled with sesame oil.

Hmm.. must make that this week!

Klary Koopmans

~ The Travels of Verjuice & Chufi

~ Eat cheap, travel far

~ Dutch Cooking recipe index

website

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  • 4 months later...
markemorse

markemorse

Posted
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I feel compelled to share the recipe that got me hooked on another method of cooking cauliflower that yields similar results: Jean-Georges' Scallops and Cauliflower with Caper-Raisin Sauce.

I hope it hasn't been discussed on this thread already, I didn't see it.

Either way, the sauce works beautifully with this thread's cauliflower method as well. You don't even need the scallops. And how often can you say that? :smile:

mark

Mark E. Morse
eG foodblog: Eating Immigrant in Amsterdam

+++

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Pontormo

Pontormo

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Posted

Mark, the recipe you link is very similar to ones for Sicilian pasta dishes. Small florets of cauliflower develop a rich, meaty flavor when sauteed in lots of olive oil; purple varieties retain the original deep color they lose when boiled or steamed. The complexity of different pronounced tastes is a nice change from simple roasted cauliflower, as good as it is.

"Viciousness in the kitchen.

The potatoes hiss." --Sylvia Plath

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markemorse

markemorse

Posted
Posted (edited)

hey Pontormo...

what i liked about this recipe was the pureeing of the capers and raisins...instead of, "oh, there's another caper in my mouth, yay"....a very different alchemy occurs when it's all just "sauce".

mark

Edited by markemorse (log)

Mark E. Morse
eG foodblog: Eating Immigrant in Amsterdam

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Pontormo

Pontormo

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Posted

Salut, Mark! That's the French for you.

You take a very simple, quick homey dish that is all about the tangle of distinct flavors and you refine the process, take more time producing it, and transform it into something elegant and refined. Given Arab heritage of Sicilian dishes, it's a little more complicated than this, of course, since the emphasis on superior ingredients is also met by a taste for spices and rich mixtures of contrasting tastes that end up complementing one another: savory anchovies and sweet currants, cinnamon and parsley...

Io, Moi...I would gladly eat either dish.

"Viciousness in the kitchen.

The potatoes hiss." --Sylvia Plath

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markemorse

markemorse

Posted
Posted (edited)

Thought I'd share something else we're doing with this dish....don't think it's been mentioned yet:

We've been saving the leftover post-cooking olive/cauliflower oil, refrigerating it, and using it to dress pasta the next day for dinner or lunch. So, for example, we just eat the cauliflower itself as a side the night it's cooked, reserve the oil, and then for lunch the next day it's penne with tuna, roasted cauliflower oil, pine nuts and capers...good stuff!

mark

Edited by markemorse (log)

Mark E. Morse
eG foodblog: Eating Immigrant in Amsterdam

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scamhi

scamhi

Posted
Posted
Thought I'd share something else we're doing with this dish....don't think it's been mentioned yet:

We've been saving the leftover post-cooking olive/caulifower oil, refrigerating it, and using it to dress pasta the next day for dinner or lunch. So, for example, we just eat the caulifower itself as a side the night it's cooked, reserve the oil, and then for lunch the next day it's penne with tuna, roasted caulifower oil, pine nuts and capers...good stuff!

mark

How much oil are you using so that you can have leftover oil? When I roast cauliflower...there is no oil left in the pan. I barely use 1-2tbl for a large head.

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nibor

nibor

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Posted

I would also like to know how much oil you are using.

When I learned on a recent thread that this was the eGullet most-loved-recipe-of-all-time, I tried it. It took forever to bake and came out dry. More oil. Right. Of course.

I need to get rid of a ton of duck fat before I move next week. Mmmmmm

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monavano

monavano

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Posted

I just roasted a head and I give a liberal pour of evoo to give them a good coat. Mine always absorb the oil by the end of cooking. I made a delicious soup with them (although it was veeeerrrry hard to stop myself picking at them right out of the roasting pan!)

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Pat W

Pat W

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(although it was veeeerrrry hard to stop myself picking at them right out of the roasting pan!)

That's the problem we've had. There are only two of us & we've never had leftovers.

Must work on moderation.

pat w.

I would live all my life in nonchalance and insouciance

Were it not for making a living, which is rather a nouciance.

-- Ogden Nash

http://bluestembooks.com/

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markemorse

markemorse

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Posted
Thought I'd share something else we're doing with this dish....don't think it's been mentioned yet:

We've been saving the leftover post-cooking olive/cauliflower oil, refrigerating it, and using it to dress pasta the next day for dinner or lunch. So, for example, we just eat the cauliflower itself as a side the night it's cooked, reserve the oil, and then for lunch the next day it's penne with tuna, roasted cauliflower oil, pine nuts and capers...good stuff!

mark

How much oil are you using so that you can have leftover oil? When I roast cauliflower...there is no oil left in the pan. I barely use 1-2tbl for a large head.

Mmm, yes...that won't really generate leftovers. We probably use 1/4 cup for an average head and up to 1/2 cup for a big head. This sounds like a lot, but most of it stays in the roasting pan (thus the leftover oil discussion)...And I think I'd rather err on the side of too moist...nothing worse than having your darkest bits all dry and shriveled.

Mark E. Morse
eG foodblog: Eating Immigrant in Amsterdam

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llc45

llc45

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Posted

I actually converted my meat and potatoe friend this weekend. For the thirty years we've been friends, I've only known her to eat peas, corn, and potatoes. Made her try some and she loved it. Although I have been roasting cauliflower and many vegetables for years now, egullet really helped me to perfect the technique (I was cooking at a lower temperature before).

HMMM, now that I've had some success, what veggie should I try her on next? Maybe roasted brussel sprouts...

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