roasted cauliflower

I love roasted veggies. Already delicious vegetables get a sweetened lift and and tender bite in a hot, hot oven. If you’re not a huge cauliflower fan, you’ve got to try them roasted. The olive oil, salt, and pepper bring out of the best of cauliflower and just a pinch of nutmeg lends the slightest flavor twist. No mushy, bland vegetables here.

Cauliflower gets a bad rap not just for it’s often bland preparation, but for it’s nutritional content. You know how you always hear that the darker your green leafy veggies, the more nutrients it has? So surely cauliflower, a white (!?!) vegetable would be a complete nutritional void. Not so. Joseph, my resident nutritionist (ok, he’s not a nutritionist, but he did spend 2 years studying nutrition as a part of his food and nutrition policy doctorate degree) has assured me that it’s actually a good source of protein, riboflavin, phosphorus and potassium, and a very good source of dietary fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin B6, folate, pantothenic acid and manganese. Phew!

Roasted Cauliflower
Adapted from Ellie Krieger’s The Food You Crave

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Toss the cauliflower with all the ingredients in a bowl. People like to try mixing it on the baking dish, but if you ask me, it’s easier to wash the bowl you’ll use for this than to try doing it on the baking sheet, you’ll get a more even distribution of your spices, and you’ll keep all your ingredients off the floor.

Place the florets on a baking sheet and make sure they have plenty of room (crowding them will inhibit beautiful browning). Bake for 12 minutes. Flip them over with some tongs. At this point, it will really depend on how hot your oven runs, but I’ll usually cook them for another 4 more minutes, flip them over, cook for another 2 minutes or so, and by then they’re usually pretty evenly browned. Just keep an eye on them and pull them out when they look nice and browned.