Thursday, September 17, 2009

Roasted Cauliflower


Cauliflower originated in Cyprus and was introduced to France from Italy in the middle of the 16th Century. Louis XIV's mistress, the Comtesse DuBarry, asked the king's chef to make it so much that he named all the dishes with cauliflower in it after her. Whenever you see "DuBarry" in the title of a french dish, you know which vegetable is the primary ingredient. It can be colorful, fractal (as the Romanesco, and always delicious. It also doesn't need anything fancy. I roast cauliflower at least once a week. Olive oil, salt and 2 pinches of curry. I have to roast it until the tiniest florets are brown and crispy. Its just that much tastier. The cauliflower will reduce in size by about half when you roast it hard. Which means if you like picking while you're cooking, the amount you end up with could be a lot less.

2 Heads of Cauliflower
Olive Oil
2 Tspn Salt
2 big pinches of curry (substitute lemon if you don't like curry)

1. Preheat oven to 450F
2. Pick apart the florets into small pieces and place in a large mixing bowl. Add enough olive oil to coat the florets, salt and curry.
3. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the florets on it.
4. Roast for 25 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheet and roast for another 5-10 minutes depending on how brown the florets are.

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