There was a time in my life I didn't care for cauliflower. When I was younger, cauliflower was presented to me in one of two ways- either as a raw vegetable on a vegetable tray, or mushy with cheese sauce. I usually avoided cauliflower on vegetable trays, always opting to grab celery, carrots, and cherry tomatoes. Or bell peppers, if they happened to be on there. At home in those days, Mom would serve us mushy cauliflower (sorry Mom!) with cheese sauce. I loved cheese sauce to the moon and back, so Mom got me to eat both broccoli and cauliflower that way.
These days, however, I don't avoid cauliflower. Cauliflower is actually pretty darn tasty. And while I do love me some cheese sauce, it's not a requirement. Preparation is pretty simple. I like to toss the cauliflower with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder and roast it in the oven. About 5 minutes before it's done roasting, I sprinkle shredded Parmesan cheese over the florets. A light shake of salt and a dusting of fresh parsley when the pan comes out of the oven, and that's all folks. Roasting brings out a delicious flavor in cauliflower. I also like to make sure the cauliflower still has a little crunch. This is such an easy and tasty way to prepare this veggie.
You probably don't think of cauliflower as being very versatile, I know there was a time I didn't. Cauliflower is an excellent choice for soups, purees, side dishes, pastas- practically anything. In fact, I roast it most of the time before I use it in other dishes. As I mentioned before, this technique just does something magical to this humble vegetable. As a side dish, it goes excellently with chicken, fish, pork, turkey, steak, etc. You name it, and I bet cauliflower would make a superb accompaniment.
In fact, I'm starting to want some right now. And this about 5 minutes after I was just drooling over cookies on another blog. Plus, I've already got dinner on tap and there ain't nothing cauliflower-y about it. Oh, brother. Girl has woken up hungry.
In other happenings, I just started my first book of 2015. I know, I know. Already behind schedule on reading, there are never enough hours in the day. I picked up another "true" ghost story book, hoping I would identify with the book more than last year's true ghost story debacle. This book, titled "The Demon of Brownsville Road" by Bob Cranmer and Erica Manfred, is already turning out to be an easier read. I read 50 pages in about 15 minutes yesterday while at an appointment. A good sign. It's funny, since it's a "true" story, it's written by the man that these events happened to. I'm only on Chapter 4, and I can already tell I would not like this man in real life. The author is (or was, not sure yet) a politician from a small town in Pennsylvania, and he writes in that way that you can tell he is only telling the story from his side. If the book didn't say this man was a politician, it probably would have been my first guess. No matter, books can be good even if you don't like the main character. I'm hoping to get a lot more of the story in today. If not during the day, definitely tonight when the hubby goes to work. When the hubby's away, the wife will read :)
Happy Hump Day friends!
Ingredients (serves 3-4):
1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
2 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425º. Lightly coat a cookie sheet with cooking spray, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine cauliflower, olive oil, salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Toss to coat florets. Turn bowl out onto cookie sheet. Shake sheet to ensure cauliflower is in a single layer.
3. Bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 20 minutes, remove cookie sheet from oven, sprinkle parmesan cheese over florets, and continue to roast for another 5 minutes. Cauliflower is done when florets have started to brown.
4. Remove tray from oven. Lightly sprinkle tray with salt. Sprinkle parsley over cauliflower. Serve immediately.
Looking for other roasted veggie recipes? Try these!
Love this!! Can't wait to try it! So many thanks for linking up yesterday at Snickerdoodle Sunday- hope to see you again on Saturday with your latest makes!
ReplyDeleteSarah (Sadie Seasongoods)