Recipe: Roasted and spiced, this vegetable is a winner
![]() At least this one is green. (Photos: Kathy Morrison) |
I was a latecomer to cauliflower. Too bland, either boiled to death or steamed and left plain -- uh, no thanks. And I can’t eat cheese, so forget about drenching it in gooey sauce.
But roasting was a revelation: Those white florets were suddenly interesting. Wow. Still, the white vegetable in winter, when so much is colorless, can be a turn-off. And the ones in the supermarket are HUGE — my husband and I never finish one head before it begins to deteriorate.
This is all to explain why I was thrilled to find small heads of cauliflower — both white and green — at the farmers market Saturday. They were all 1 pound or less; the already-trimmed green cauliflower weighed just half a pound. I snapped up one of each.
For good measure I added a small head of Roman cauliflower, aka broccoli romanesco or just romanesco, its pointy florets looking like some kind of alien creation.
In fact, this last brassica is so unusual-looking that the prop crew put it in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," aka Episode 7, as a snack served to Rey at the pirate castle of Maz Kanata. (Yes, bit of a "Star Wars" fan here.) Romanesco has a nutty flavor when cooked.
I was pan-searing ahi tuna for dinner, so chose the two greenish veggies to serve with it. Roasted, spiced and garnished as inspired by a New York Times recipe, they were wonderful.
Try this recipe with any brassica, including broccoli.
It can easily be doubled for one of those big heads of cauliflower. Spice as much or as little as desired.
Roasted cauliflower with spices and almonds
Serves 4 as a side dish
Ingredients:
1 pound florets from cauliflower, broccoli and/or romanesco that have been trimmed and cored
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 or 2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Zest from 1/2 lemon
1 to 2 tablespoons almonds, sliced or chopped
1 small red chile or 1/2 of a large one, thinly sliced, for garnish, optional
Lemon juice, for sprinkling after cooking
Instructions:
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Make sure the florets are roughly the same size; slice in half any that are too large. Place the florets in a bowl and toss with the olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Scatter them across a shallow roasting pan or baking sheet with a rim. Roast florets 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix together in a small bowl the minced garlic, minced parsley, red pepper flakes and lemon zest. When the florets have cooked for 15 minutes, sprinkle the spice mix over them and stir gently, so other sides of the florets will be browned.
Cook for 10 more minutes and test for doneness.
Sprinkle the almonds over the vegetables in the pan. (If using the red pepper slices, you can also add them to the mixture now to barely cook them, if desired.) Cook for up to 5 more minutes, being careful not to burn the almonds.
Place the vegetables in a serving bowl and sprinkle on a bit of fresh lemon juice while they're still hot. Stir and serve.
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Food in My Back Yard Series
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting
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Garden Checklist for week of May 11
Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)
* Plant dahlia tubers.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.
* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.
* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.