Roasted Cauliflower
Roasting cauliflower is an easy way to get the most flavor out of your veggies. Tossed with a bit of flavorful oil and some herbs and spices, and you've got a quick addition to any meal.
You Will Need
- 1 head cauliflower
- 1 baking sheet
- Oven
Optional Additions
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Red pepper
- Black pepper
- Salt
- Thyme
- Rosemary
- Garlic
- Parmesan
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 450°. Remove leaves from around cauliflower, then carefully cut the florets from the stalk. Chop the florets into even-sized pieces. Coat lightly with olive oil and sprinkle herbs and spices, tossing to ensure even coating. Arrange in single layer on baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until tender and turning golden. Let cool and serve.
Details
This can be done with simply some salt and pepper, or you can add some herbs like thyme, parsley, sage, chives, or rosemary.
Here, I've used black pepper, red pepper, and thyme.
Cauliflower, like broccoli, is actually from the same species as cabbage, kale, and Brussels sprouts: Brassica oleracea. Unlike most of those, in this case, we want to remove the leaves.
Turn the cauliflower over. The leaves can be simply pulled away from the stalk to reveal the inside branches of the florets.
With the leaves removed, we can now carefully cut the florets from the stalk. Once the floret is removed from the stalk, you can cut off some of the branch stem if it's too thick and woody.
Now that the stalk is cleaned, we need to chop the cauliflower into approximately equal pieces. This will ensure that they cook evenly and are all done at the same time.
With that done, we can lay the florets on a baking pan. Keep them in a single layer to ensure even cooking.
Now we can add the oil, spices, and herbs. You could do this in a bowl, but I just tossed it all on the baking sheet.
And then I mixed it all together with my hands to ensure an even coating of oil and spices. Learning how to cook has done wonders for my fear of getting dirty.
Now it's ready to slide into our 450° oven. The high temperature will ensure browning, and browning equals flavor.
Serve With
I enjoy cauliflower with pasta and tomato sauce dishes and chicken like this poulet au vin blanc.