Roasted Cauliflower

[snowangel]

Since I loved the cauliflower roasted, thought I would try this recipe from Wegmans

Brussel Sprouts (go to the second recipe - Roasted Brussel Sprouts)

I also added a little freshly ground black pepper. I think I may like it even more than the cauliflower.

Wegmans had fresh brussel sprouts in stock the week the recipe came out, and have been well stocked since then. I love that store!

Substitute bacon fat for the olive oil for a real treat

[bloviatrix]

Since I loved the cauliflower roasted, thought I would try this recipe from Wegmans

Brussel Sprouts  (go to the second recipe - Roasted Brussel Sprouts)

I also added a little freshly ground black pepper.  I think I may like it even more than the cauliflower.

Wegmans had fresh brussel sprouts in stock the week the recipe came out, and have been well stocked since then.  I love that store! 

Substitute bacon fat for the olive oil for a real treat

Duck fat is also good.

[redfox]

Please tell more about these roasted chickpeas! Do you find they roast in the same amount of time as the sliced cauliflower? Were you using home-cooked chickpeas or rinsed canned chickpeas, or something else? Do they turn hard and crunchy all through like wasabi peas? Enquiring minds want to know.

I am deeply in love with roasted cauliflower -- all the more so because it's so good for my diabetic husband's diet -- and intend to try the brussels sprouts soon. I keep on trying to like brussels sprouts and failing, but my love for the cauliflower spurs me onward. Here's hoping.

[hillvalley]

Please tell more about these roasted chickpeas! Do you find they roast in the same amount of time as the sliced cauliflower? Were you using home-cooked chickpeas or rinsed canned chickpeas, or something else? Do they turn hard and crunchy all through like wasabi peas? Enquiring minds want to know.

Roasted chickpeas are the second best thing I have learned from Ronnie

Yes, they are crunchy, but only for a little while. They eventually become soggy, but are still delicious. I used canned chickpeas that I rinsed.

Well worth a try.

[ronnie_suburban]

If you like chickpeas, try this recipe...

Spicy Toasted Garbanzo Beans and Pistachios

I've made it several times and it's fantastic. The chickpeas don't get crunchy immediately after cooking, but rather tough on the outsides and chewy on the insides. However, if you leave the finished product uncovered overnight, it morphs into a wonderfully crunchy snack that's equally hard to stop eating.

=R=

ETA...crossed posts with hillvalley and the recipe linked in this post is the one to which she's referring in her post.

Edited February 5, 2004 by ronnie_suburban (log)

[jo-mel]

I went to my favorite Asian market a couple of weeks ago and, amazingly, they didn't have any. As I was gawking around, I saw this Indian lady similarly gawking. I asked her if she knew where the cauliflower was. She said that she was looking for it also and was puzzled as to why they didn't have it.

Should we be alarmed? Has some pernicious blight attacked the cauliflower fields in this country? Is this some evil conspiracy? Get the populace addicted then destroy the source of all pleasure. BWAHAHAHAHA!

'Faux taters' are one of the biggies on the South Beach Diet. Since I've been following it (partly), I've noticed that it is sometimes in short supply. I think the South Beachers are the culprits!

On another thread on e-G, I mentioned 'mashed faux taters' that can vie for the real thing. They are made with sour cream, cream cheese, and chives and mashed till creamy like potatoes. (I use a hand-held Braun mixer) I really forget that I'm eating cauliflower, and I am a cauliflower lover. A DDIL, who DOESN'T like cauliflower, liked the faux stuff so much, she had seconds! I've made kugle and pancakes also, but haven't yet found the consistancy I want.

Roasted? It is soooooo good! This should get the cauliflower industry going full steam!

[reesek]

jo-mel - do you boil or steam the cauliflower you mash? until it's how soft? soggy?

thanks!

[jo-mel]

jo-mel - do you boil or steam the cauliflower you mash? until it's how soft? soggy?

thanks!

I nuke it. I use a deep bowl, don't add any water, and cover the bowl. I just shake off the water that I rinse the cauliflower with. The cauliflower has enough moisture in itself. Sometimes I add a clove of garlic. I add a couple spoonfuls cream cheese, and some sour cream. Then use the Braun mixer and mash away. Dry chives are nice with it and also some 'real bacon'. You can play with it to get the amounts you like.

My m-wave has a 'fresh vegetable' function, so I don't have to time it, but I always add 1 or 2 more minutes. What I want is soft -- not soggy. That is why I don't add any water.

[Toliver]

I roasted cauliflower this evening and added shaved parmesan after taking it out of the oven. Very good, though next time I won't salt the cauliflower if I'm going to add cheese.

One thing I did notice, however, is that the roasting pan does make a difference in the browning. Tonight I used a new sheet pan that had a small lip to it. After the first 10 minutes, I went to flip the pieces and noticed that none of them had browned. It took a lot longer than 20 minutes to roast. In the end, the cauliflower was a nice golden color but not really browned.

It turns out that upon closer inspection my new roasting pan was one of those "air-cushion-type" pans which obviously impacted the browning. So just like when baking cookies, your sheet pans will effect how the end product turns out, which makes perfect sense.

Live and learn....

[coughy]

I made this dish tonight. I was in Shop Rite today and cauliflower was $1.50 a head. I remembered reading about roasting it and decided to give it a try. It was terrific. I let it cook until it was nice and brown and couldn't stop eating it. One head was not enough for my husband and I - next time I'll make two. Thank you for the wonderful recipe.

[bucktown_boffo]

i just made a quick side of chickpeas similar to the toasted recipe above, except i floured them first, then dumped them in a hot pan with olive oil for 7 minutes or so, cooking them until they got golden brown and crispy looking. tastes awesome, and the flour makes a huge difference!

Edited February 6, 2004 by bucktown_boffo (log)

[fifi]

i just made a quick side of chickpeas similar to the toasted recipe above, except i floured them first, then dumped them in a hot pan with olive oil for 7 minutes or so, cooking them until they got golden brown and crispy looking. tastes awesome, and the flour makes a huge difference!

Details please. This sounds delicious but I am not sure I understand what you did. Are these canned garbanzos? In a pan like a skillet? A pan in an oven? I am confused. (Not an unusual state. )

[bucktown_boffo]

canned garbanzo beans, rinsed and skin removed, seasoned with salt, dredged in some flour, then thrown in a hot pan on top of the stove until the flour cooks and the beans turn crunchy-- really simple and really tasty!

[fifi]

Thanks. Gotta try it. And I just happen to have a can of Goya garbanzos.

For my next trick, I am going to try the red onion with the cauliflower. I may add some fresh finely chopped rosemary.

[Andrew Fenton]

canned garbanzo beans, rinsed and skin removed, seasoned with salt, dredged in some flour, then thrown in a hot pan on top of the stove until the flour cooks and the beans turn crunchy-- really simple and really tasty!

Also good are lima beans, sauteed in a little olive oil with lots of garlic.

I always hated lima beans; eventually I realized that that was because I'd always had them served as a vegetable. When you serve them as a starch- crispy, garlicky and salty- they're fantastic.

[Richard Kilgore]

Great thread! I roasted a cauliflower for the first time last night and used it in a pasta dish: florets with EVOO, salt and pepper at 400 degrees for about an hour in a large LC baker. Linguini coated in EVOO, salt and pepper with Romano Pecorino and the cauliflower. Very nice.

[nutcakes]

Do you find they roast in the same amount of time as the sliced cauliflower? Were you using home-cooked chickpeas or rinsed canned chickpeas, or something else? Do they turn hard and crunchy all through like wasabi peas?

I roasted rinsed canned chickpeas right in with the cauliflower and onion wedges. 2 nights ago I roasted at 450 for about 35 minutes. They are not dry and crisp like wasabi peas. They are crunchy on the outside and regular inside. First toss all with a little olive oil. Then, I mixed a nice curry with a sweet ground garam masala (Penzy's) and lightly sprinkled the spices, salt, pepper on. Hit with a little lemon juice after it comes out of the oven. Even when we finished dinner, we nibbled on all the remaining chick peas. I'm sure cooked dried beans would be even nicer. Cumin spiced would be a good idea too.

Edited February 7, 2004 by nutcakes (log)

[ulrich fiedler]

Dry powdered calliflower!

take only the flowers and dry them carefully in the oven, can last more than an hour. rfinally roast them brown, let it cool down and pulverize it and mix it with a little salt and pepper. variation: brown sugar

you can use that, like spice or put it over a pasta dish or for instance take scallops roll them in the powder and cook them short in the pan.

[Toliver]

Regarding the core, I've made the roasted cauliflower both ways, using just the florets and then using the whole kit and kaboodle and I think I will stay with the whole kit and kaboodle. The core doesn't come out of the oven any different than the rest of the head and I like the efficiency (or is the proper word "frugality"?) of using just about everything on the head. I even have a cookbook that has a stir-fry recipe to use the bottom leaves you normally throw away but I'm not going to take it that far.

Using my big ass Forschner knife, I just sliced the head into giant slices and zip zip zip, it was done. There were "crumbs" and pieces where parts of the florets came off but they cook up the best, in my honest opinion. And with this method, there is no need to do surgery while trying to cut off florets, etc.

One odd visual effect is that the large slices do tend to look like slices of "brain" which I think could be a plus for those trying to get kids to eat it.

[reesek]

i agree with toliver on the core. it tastes exactly the same - gets lovely and tender just as the florets.

i've made the cauliflower a few times now and found that i prefer cooking at a lower temperature for longer...one caveat is that i have a convection oven and can't ever resist using it. that said - i like smallish pieces but denser ones (so i use the floret method) and cook at 350 or 375 for 25-30 minutes. i'll still get the very dark crumbs and the larger pieces still get well colored. i use a very dark sheet pan - i'm convinced that helps.

[Toasted]

i use a very dark sheet pan - i'm convinced that helps.

I think using a dark sheet pan helps too although I'm not sure why. Made

it in a glass pan this weekend and it wasn't as good.

[Toliver]

i use a very dark sheet pan - i'm convinced that helps.

I think using a dark sheet pan helps too although I'm not sure why. Made

it in a glass pan this weekend and it wasn't as good.

I think if we ask in the Baking forum and I'm sure we'll get the proper scientific reasoning behind dark cookie sheets helping cookies turn out crisper.

That being said, I agree with the dark pan providing a better roast for the cauliflower. Lat night's turned out far better than my last attempt (see earlier post).

As for cooking longer at a lower temp, I ended up doing that at Christmas time by accident (using my mom's mis-calibrated oven and a non-dark roasting pan...see my much earlier post). The cauliflower took longer to cook but turned out to be a beautiful golden color. Quite a contrast to how it turns out when roasted at the normal temp. I like both methods and use the longer cooking time/lower temp when I'm not in a hurry.

[redfox]

I have now tried the brussels sprouts, and though I don't think I will ever manage to love that vegetable, this was far closer than I ever expected to come. Hooray! (Next time we come into some sprouts, I think I'll be sure to perk them up with lemon juice, too, which I think might get me even closer. Perhaps when that NVa Wegmans opens up, in honor of their being the source of the recipe.) But the cauliflower is still my true love. Next up will definitely be the cauliflower, red onion, and chickpeas all together, probably with cumin -- it sounds entirely delectable.

[Mabelline]

redfox, I'm in with fifi and ronnie suburban; tomorrow is my first shopping trip out post-hospital, and we're hitting Costco, because So is off at the firehouse, too. I showed him your gorgeous pictures, and we are completely agreed that there is supper looking us in the eye!! Thank you!! Red onions, right?

Duh, just read back to your mention of making it ...nevermind

Edited February 12, 2004 by Mabelline (log)

[cheeseandchocolate]

Redfox, could you elaborate a bit on how you put together the cauliflower, red onion, and chickpeas? At what point did you season, and with what, exactly? And did you roast it all together? How did you cut the onion? Must. Replicate. That. Dish!

Edited to say: oops. Just noticed that someone--nutcakes, I think--describes this in detail earlier in the thread. Nevermind!

Edited February 12, 2004 by cheeseandchocolate (log)