Everyone must have their own experiences of overcooked, watery, tasteless cauliflower. Equally familiar, I imagine, are the attempts to rescue this unhappy vegetable with one cheese gratin or another. Cauliflower has always been, for me, the greyish-white lump at the edge of the plate that gets eaten last, if at all. Until now I have tried to avoid it, and when I have had no choice, I have asked for mine raw, when at least there is something to crunch.
Thanks to Jim Dixon and his Real Good Food site, today, after 29 years in disgrace, cauliflower was promoted to the place of honour on my table. The recipe for caramelised cauliflower is, after all, about as trivial as they come. It needs nothing but a cauliflower, olive oil and sea salt, and the result is so stupefyingly delicious that the main problem becomes finding a cauliflower big enough if there is more than one person at the table.
Since Wednesday I have been eating cabbage dishes, and cauliflower fits into the series rather better than I would have guessed. It turns out that botanically it is the same species as the white cabbage my cabbage rolls were made of. The browning, on the other hand, I know from the caramelised onions. While I was stirring them I read that when sugars get hot enough, they break down into brown, sweet compounds. Cauliflower has less sugar than an onion, but in a 200-degree oven and with oil the surface browns all the same, and it does not take four hours. Cauliflower is light food anyway, with only about twenty-five kilocalories in a hundred grams, I am told. So the calories come mostly from the oil.
From a big head I got only three whole slices, and the rest crumbled under the knife into florets and chunks, which I spread out on the same baking tray in the gaps between the slices. I was fairly sceptical as I put the slices in the oven, but after half an hour of roasting the first tastes nearly finished off the whole tray. Halfway through I had turned the slices carefully with a spatula, because once softened they fall apart easily, and now I ate the first tastes standing up next to the tray, burning my fingers on them. In cross-section the slices look like little trees, and they are brownest where they lay against the tray. The florets round the edges roast crisp, while the stem stays soft and sweet inside.
Recipe card
Caramelised Cauliflower
- a small cauliflower for one, a large one for two
- Oven 200 °C
- Roasting about 30 min, turning once
You will need
| 1 | cauliflower (small for one, large for two) |
| olive oil | |
| sea salt |
Method
- Heat the oven to 200 °C.
- Cut the cauliflower from top to bottom into slices just under a centimetre thick. One head gives only a few whole slices, but the slightly bigger bits left over are worth roasting too, at least for an everyday meal.
- Brush the slices generously with olive oil on both sides and sprinkle liberally with sea salt.
- Roast for about 30 minutes, turning once, or until nicely browned.
- Check the salt and serve at once. If you like, drizzle over a little more oil.
The cauliflower is at its best piping hot, straight from the oven, so have the rest of the meal ready and waiting!
5 comments
Ihanaa Antti! Parasta kukkakaalia, jota olen koskaan maistanut!
Tuota on pakko kokeilla! Siis tuosta ei voi resepti enää helpommaksi muuttua ja jos se on vielä hyvää...
Järjettömän hyvää! Näillä tulen herkuttelemaan usein! Kiitos reseptivinkist
Kiitos kiitos kiitos. Kerran vielä: kiitos!!
Todella hyvä ja helppo ohje, sopii myös porkkanoille! Suosittelen!!