Let’s Cook! Simple Roasted Cauliflower

It’s hard to believe that for someone of my Advanced Age it’s taken so many years to come to appreciate the virtues of roasting veggies… steamed, stir-fried, ignored was my usual course of non-meat cooking… but in recent years I’ve had quite the revelation…

I’m sure most of us have had roasted tubers of some sort, or other vegetables perhaps, along with a roasted meat dish – but the wonderful things that happen to many veggies when put into the oven are hard to beat – flavors are concentrated, the natural sugars come to the front (can you say “caramelization”? I know you could…) – damn good things happen – and it’s easy…

The recipe below (and really, it’s as much a technique as a recipe, as you’ll see) is based on the Cardamom-Roasted Cauliflower recipe from Suvir Saran‘s “American Masala”, but I get real lazy on the seasonings… (forgive me Suvir). I’ll refer you to his book (which you should own, if you don’t already) for the original recipe. And I’m going to give you some options, alternatives, etc at the end, so now, Let’s Cook!

Simple Roasted Cauliflower

Ingredients

1/3 cup Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (give or take, plus a bit more to grease the baking dish)

1 Head Cauliflower, cored and broken/cut in medium-size flowerets

1 Medium Red Onion, quartered and cut into thick slices

1 – 1 1/2 Tsp Garam Masala

1 – 1 1/2 Tsp good quality Curry Powder

Coarse Salt (Kosher or Sea), for sprinkling

Procedure

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Add the Garam Masala and Curry Powder to the oil in a large mixing bowl.

Whisk well and throw in your veggies…

Stir until the cauliflower and onion are evenly coated with the seasoned oil (you may need to add a bit more oil…).

Lightly grease a large roasting pan and add the veggies to same. Stick in the oven… (duh…)

Stir every 15 minutes or so until tender and done to your liking…

about an hour total. Add a nice sprinkling of salt and you’re ready to eat…

And here it is served alongside some lovely Coconut Rice.

So like I said – this is more of a technique than anything – you can adjust the seasoning to whatever you like – add other veggies as desired… carrots, broccoli, potatoes, mushrooms… of course different things will cook at different times – you may need to add the other veggies later in the cooking time. If you’re experimenting and not sure, cook the other veggies in a separate pan (and remove from the oven earlier or cook longer as needed) and put together just at the end until you feel good about when to add other items. Even the onions can be varied – as the recipe is presented the onions will get soft and caramelized – but if you want them more firm, add about half-way thru – or do both – some at the start and more during the cooking… it can’t be wrong… You can also stir in some chopped cilantro, parsley, green onions, whatever at the end to finish things off…

Cook, experiment, it’s all good, and in this case, good for you!

Back to the kitchen – see you soon!