Cauliflower Sheds its Bland Boredom & Develops Sensual Appeal

What's more boring than cauliflower? It's the plain vanilla of the vegetable world. Its very presence on your table defies the serve colorful food "nutrition rule. But the secret to making cauliflower a culinary standout is to roast it, and once again, here's where you will benefit from buying less-than-perfect heads of this cruciferious vegetable. Cauliflower typically retails for $2-3 a head, but I've paid as little as .79 for a large head just because it had a few brown spots on top. Buy it anyway, so long as the remainder of the head is firm and fresh-looking.

Trim off those bad spots with a small paring knife, then either slice the head into thick slabs, or remove the florets and cut them into pieces. I go for which ever method gets the job done more quickly. Spread a sheet of parchment paper on your cookie sheet and place a single layer of the cauliflower slices on it. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in a very high oven - from 400 to 425 - until the caulifower is golden and sizzling.

I'm such a glutton for freshly roasted cauliflower that it's hard for me not to gobble it up right off the cookie sheet (Emily is the same way!), but do try to save enough for this very yummy and healthy meal:

Roasted Cauliflower with Whole Wheat Penne

First of all, you don't have to use penne - use any size or shape pasta you have around. But make sure it's whole wheat, because its slightly nutty flavor complements the vegetable beautifully. Cook the pasta al dente, drain all but a little of the cooking water, and toss with the roasted cauliflower. Sprinkle on some really good, high quality (and yes, expensive) freshly grated parmesan cheese, and if you are like my friend Yaakov, you have a basil plant sitting on your kitchen table, so you'll break off a sprig or two and toss that in as well. Lots of fresh ground pepper, and you have a very quick and wonderful meal.

If you want to make this dish a complete protein, toss in a handful of chickpeas as well.

Another great use for roasted cauliflower is to use Mark Bittman's recipe from The New York Times back in April 2009. It is unusual and a real treat.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/dining/221mrex.html?ref=dining

One note: you know I advocate preparing large batches of whatever I have on hand and freezing what I'm not using immediately. Roasted cauliflower just doesn't recover well from having been frozen, so if you have lots and lots of it left over from the pasta dish (you should be so lucky),quickly microwave a small potato and puree the cauliflower and potato with your Cuisinarts immersion blender. A little mild curry powder is a nice addition. Thin it with some vegetable broth, and freeze your little dividend of creamy cauliflower soup. That's a lot to get from some inexpensive produce.