EAT: Roasted Cauliflower

Roasted cauliflower seems to be a recent food craze. I'm all for enjoying a great meal and don't usually grumble about paying more for great food but roasted cauliflower won't be on that list! It's so simple to make at home, I feel strange paying $10 for a quarter of cauliflower at a restaurant...but because there's always an exception: if it's roasted with an intriguing flavour, I'll try it :P

But really, roasted cauliflower is super easy to make at home! I love roasted vegetables (beets, potatoes, carrots, you name it!) but roasting cauliflower had never crossed my mind until the wonderful Molly at Orangette blogged about it here. I love her photography and writing style - she is an AMAZING writer. Her first book, A Homemade Life, is one of my favourites; mostly because of the format: each chapter is a short story about a memory that leads to a recipe! Her second book, Delancey, is waiting on my to-read list.

I appreciated this blog post (so much!) where Molly wrote a short paragraph about a realistic view on home cooking. It shifted how I view home cooking because recently I've had thoughts like, oh man we're not eating very well, because we don't cook impressive or complex, or at the very least, perfectly well-rounded, meals. Roasted cauliflower + simple chicken and rice (aka. our dinner this past Tuesday) or leftover pasta is good enough for me!

Thanks to Orangette (that blog post AND her recipes), I'm going to take joy in the simple, non-time-consuming recipes that produce delicious food! 

Next time you're grabbing groceries for an easy supper and you see that the cauliflower is on sale, pick one up and try roasting it! It's such simple goodness.

Roasted Cauliflower simplified from Orangette's already simple recipe

INGREDIENTS
1	head of cauliflower
2 tbsp	olive oil
2 tsp	garlic salt (optional)
1 tsp	black pepper (optional)
4-6	garlic cloves (optional)
1/2	onion (optional)

DIRECTIONS
1	Preheat oven to 425F.
2	Cut off cauliflower stem and cut in half, top to bottom (not horizontally). One half usually fills one pan.
3	Slice cauliflower, vertically, into 1-1.5 inch slices. Parts of the cauliflower are going to crumble, don't panic! Just keep slicing so that all parts are similar thickness so they cook in the same amount of time.
4	Line a pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper and lay the slices down.
5	Drizzle olive oil over all the cauliflower.
6	Sprinkle on whatever your heart desires; I usually opt for some garlic salt + pepper and/or thyme. If you have time, you can toss on some onions and garlic cloves.
7	Roast in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, flipping the slices sometime in the 10-15 minute mark. I like to have them browned a bit (as you can see in the photos).
8	Enjoy with some of your favourite cheese grated on top or as a side dish on it's own or for breakfast with some scrambled eggs and salsa! Mm mm!

See Orangette's blog post with a flavourful version of recipe for more great suggestions of how to eat roasted cauliflower for any meal of the day!