R O A S T E D !(whole head)
EVOO
Garlic
Sea Salt
Black Pepper

Keep it simple
Roast it uncovered 400* to desired texture done-ness
Get the basic method down and add flavors to accompany specific meal plans.

Once you try this,there isnt a cheese sauce that can touch it :)

When I cook cauliflower, I generally boil/steam it in a small amount of water. I cut the stems into thin slices and cook those with some onion in the water for 10-20 minutes before I add the florets, which I usually steam above the water that has the stems. Then I remove the florets (cook underdone if you want to reheat them), and the puree the stems and onion in the cooking water with a stick blender. I thicken this liquid with either potato starch (it doesn't take much) or a small amount of roux. Add S&P to taste - I use chili sauce for pepper and minimal salt.

This is easy to reheat, providing you have not overcooked the cauliflower, although potato starch is not recommended for reheating, and so you may want to add that on site. The good thing about potato starch is that it does not clump like corn starch, and so you do not have to make a slurry before adding it to hot liquid.

Lars

Well, yes, TNKS, that's what I said. Roasted is my fallback position. I was looking for something more interesting, and I never mentioned cheese sauce at all!

Lars, thanks for the idea. Do you serve the puree on top of the cauliflower? Or do you reserve it for a different dish? I was thinking along the lines of an onion jam to go with plain roasted, but the onion and cauliflower puree sounds interesting..

It is popular riced and used as a base for a number of things (it's the paleo darling), so that might interest you and those who want to try something new. I do not like cauliflower as a traditional vegetable but would be interested trying it in a different way.
The link might give you some ideas in fresh ways to take it although the 'pizza' is not Thanksgiving fare, of course.
But maybe with caramelized onions and thyme on top...?

Here is a link that might be useful: Cauliflower pizza

I vote roasted too. Love it that way and was thinking of making it for our thanksgiving but nixed it because I already have 2 veggies and I'm trying to not go overboard this year. I do have a recipe for a super fattening, great tasting cauliflower augratin, but it's fat loaded with heavy cream, bacon, and Swiss cheese.

LOL!! No cream, bacon, cheese!

Thanks, both of you, but I'm trying to make a vegetable dish, not a main. It needs to be mostly vegetables.

Something I've just thought of is to make shavings of roots, roast them to dry and brown them, and make them into a casserole with cauliflower and onion puree, and maybe hold them together with chia goo. :) That would be turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, carrots, celery root or whatever else I find. Maybe not the rutabagas since there will be so many tubers. I could even put some curly kale in for texture and color and greenness, and to cut the sweet.

Maybe I'll try that this week and see how it does. I know it would work with eggs, but I really want to keep it veg.

Sorry that you can't use parmesan cheese. I steam the florets until al dente. Toss them with a bit of EVOO and some butter, a couple of glugs of Worcestershire, then add Italian Seasoned bread crumbs (and possibly some panko) and parmesan cheese. Microwave one to two minutes until melted and tender. My DH would eat this every week if I would make it. I love roasted cauliflower, especially with smoked paprika, but I do not see that flavor mixing with Thanksgiving.
This dish would travel well because you could steam the cauliflower until just barely tender and then hit the road. Finish and nuke after you arrive.
Another dish you might want to Google is cauliflower rice. I've not made it, but have seen some photos online that look really good!

Big smiles here. That sounds like a version of what my mother used to make when I was small. :) Both parm and paprika (not together). I don't know why the paprika wouldn't go for Thanksgiving. The heavily garlic Spanish dish no, but smoked paprika is so earthy, it should go with roasts and tubers and cranberries. :) I'll keep that one in mind!

I like it lightly boiled then tossed in crispy breadcrumbs, butter, black pepper and lemon juice.

Bitter cold in NYC yesterday and was served a cauliflower soup. A broth soup with a roasted topping. Could be reversed...roasted florets, garlic, leeks. Puree a bit of it with veg stock...a bit of roasted celery and a half cup of diced roasted sweet potato for color. Would make a nice 'gravy' for a casserole giving a bit of moisture for re-heating.
The soup was so delish we asked for the recipe swearing it had dairy...(cream or parmesan) but no, it was just veg.
I have a small head each of purple and orange cauliflower i'm thinking of doing just that....a creamy puree as a base for the roasted florets and leeks., topped with garlic chips and pepitas.

We used to toss it with buttered and toasted breadcrumbs...some polonaise will also throw in a mashed up hard boiled egg with the bread crumbs and parsley.

I've also mashed it like potatoes with butter and parsley...makes a good substitute for mashed potatoes.

Oven roasting is good...just be sure to cut it so the stems are about the same thickness so it cooks evenly...toss with EVOO, onion powder, garlic powder and S&P, then spread on a parchment lined cookie sheet and roast until tender.

I also really like it in the mix with broccoli and carrots...somehow the mixed veggies taste better than any of them alone.

Another variation on cooking cauliflower is to make what our kids used to call a "vegetable brain".

You can steam a whole cauliflower (can do a day ahead of time and refrigerate), brush with melted butter and/or olive oil, roll in a mixture of fine bread crumbs, cheese, herbs or spices as you wish, and then bake until the crumbs are golden brown.

To serve, slice in wedges.

This post was edited by ruthanna on Wed, Nov 19, 14 at 9:13

JC, I use the cauliflower stem/onion puree as a sauce on top of the cauliflower. It is good for intensifying the cauliflower flavor and makes a nice sauce without using dairy, especially if you thicken it with potato starch instead of a rue, although the rue can be made with olive oil or avocado oil.

I'm not a fan of roasted cauliflower, but Ruthanna's dish looks like something I would make.

Lars

Aloo gobi is one of our favorite things to do with cauliflower. Manjula's Kitchen has a good recipe for it. You can adjust the amount of chili (and whether with or without the seeds) to meet your family's preferences.

Here is a link that might be useful: Manjula's kitchen recipe for Aloo Gobi

I too love to roast cauliflower with garlic, EVOO and herbs with mixed root vegetables (purple potatoes) and squash (kabocha).

It would be never work in this situation (due to some heat), but I'm really loving Gobi Manchurian -- an Indo Chinese dish that is awesome. Love Aloo Gobi as well

I'm not a fan of cooked cauliflower. I do eat it roasted though, and in aloo gobi. I'm gonna have to try some of the riced ideas. But anyway, I make a raw cauliflower salad that is good. It has scallions, tomatoes, green pepper and thinly sliced cauliflower florets, with a dill mayo dressing, I think also maybe dash hot sauce. I can't afford cauliflower usually because I am stuck with so much of it when I buy it. I would love to do a mixed color cauliflower salad someday, like maybe for a party. Sadly, a lot of folks don't like cauliflower so it'd probably not get eaten, even at a party!

I also make a dish from the original "Enchanted Broccoli Forest" cookbook that is Greek style. Has potatoes, tomatoes, I think carrots, cinnamon and kidney beans. Vegetarian and yum. But rich. I also have a recipe from Sharon/Canarybird for Spanish bread casserole that layers day old country bread with cauliflower, potatoes and tomato sauce. All of these are perhaps more than you were looking for. But let me know, I can post if not.

My mom makes steamed cauliflower and whole little beets- just chunk up the cauliflower to about the size of the beets, steam them separate, then toss them together when done. We usually butter, salt, and pepper them on our plates so we can season them to personal taste.

Thank-you, Everyone, for all the suggestions and input! I didn't know there were so many variations on "plain". :) Great ideas to have in my arsenal.

LPink, thank-you for referring me to Sharon's recipes. I've found something that I think I can adapt to my needs perfectly.

I didn't know Sharon had a blog, here's the link to the recipe from her blog, It is Sopas Mallorquinas. Lots more veggies in that than just cauliflower. I love it though. Sharon is such a good cook, and so lucky to be living in Tenerife right now, at least according to me who is freezing her toesies off here in the Midwest!

Here is a link that might be useful: Vegetable and bread stew from Mallorca

Thanks for the link!

That's the recipe I was looking at. I'm thinking of turning it into a kugel so it'll serve easier. There are no potatoes, so I thought you meant a different one, but I do get how these things go when you're trying to remember. One of my best recipes (friend's recipe, actually) is for a spinach and parsley kugel, but we always have that in the Spring and it's way too much work. This sounds easy. Just make the veg as stated, make the bread into crumbs, and add a binder instead of the broth.

I'm wondering if chia would work. I could put in a couple of egg whites, if not.

Geez, I was getting the cauliflower recipe mixed up with another one I have called "Provencal Potato Gratin" which is also yummy and has similar ingredients (peppers and tomatoes) but is with potatoes, not cauliflower! You might actually get away with layering potatoes into Sharon's recipe and not bread, maybe just using a bit less broth. Anyway, it was all mushed together in my brain with yummy layered casseroles coming out of the Mediterranean region.

Well, I'm glad it was, because thanks to you I've discovered Sharon's recipes, and you even found her blog for me. I also think I'm going to do what I just said and make the sopa as given for the veg but change it into a kugel. I let you know how it goes, but it's exactly what I wanted to make even though I couldn't figure it out so just asked about cauliflower dishes. :)

Thank-you LPink, mix-up an all!

I Googled kugel to see what it is. Gosh, does it ever look savory and good. You must be a really good cook.

Let us hear and see how it turns out. If you like it, please post the recipe as prepared. I'm interested in savory kugels!

LOL! I try. :) "Kugel" is just a baked pudding. In this case, I'll be using the bread, made into crumbs, and a stickifier (chia and/or eggs) to bind the vegetables together. Some sweet kugels are custard puddings. Some savory kugels are made with chicken fat for a binder. Many many are starches and have noodles or potatoes as the main ingredient. Mine will be vegetables with just enough bread crumbs to make it easy to cut and serve. I'll also probably use whole grain bread.

I am a pretty good cook, but am too willing to experiment on company. :)

Will do, Compumom!

It's kind of funny that because of this thread I made the Sopas Mallorquinas for dinner last night. The funny part is this thread was started for cauliflower and I didn't have any but when I looked at the recipe, the intro said it was made with winter vegetables such as ... and our CSA box had chard, beets with nice greens and a purple cabbage in it. So I left out the cauliflower florets and added in some beet greens, used a leek that was hanging around the fridge and needed to be used soon instead of the onion and plunged in.

I didn't have the kind of bread described but dried out and toasted a couple of slices left from last weeks challah (part whole wheat) in the toaster oven and they maintained their integrity in the broth very well.

It was delicious - my husband agreed and he can be picky about vegetables.

This won't help you, unless you need a salad dish, but keep it in mind for using cauliflower some other time. DD avoids gluten (yes, plllog, the same DD who is trying to master sourdough bread). I made tabbouleh using The Kitchn's method for cauliflower couscous and then subbing that for the bulgur wheat in the tabbouleh recipe.

Here is my tabbouleh recipe

1 cup bulgur wheat
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/4 cup good olive oil
3 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup minced scallions, white and green parts (1 bunch)
1 cup chopped fresh mint leaves (1 bunch)
1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley (1 bunch)
1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and medium-diced
2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Place the bulghur in a large bowl, pour in the boiling water, and add the lemon juice, olive oil, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Stir, then allow to stand at room temperature for about 1 hour.

Add the scallions, mint, parsley, cucumber, tomatoes, 2 teaspoons salt, and the pepper; mix well. Season, to taste, and serve or cover and refrigerate. The flavor will improve if the tabbouleh sits for a few hours.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Kitchn Cauliflower Couscous

Bbstx, Thanks for the idea. I've made "popcorn" cauliflower before and it was good but hard to eat. I bet it's better in an herb salad (I don't put tomato and cucumber in tabbouleh, but considering that all the salads get mixed up on the plate, it makes sense if you're just doing the one).

Cloud Swift, that sounds great! That's what I love about traditional cooking. It works with any interpretation. The beet greens sound like a fab idea.

a friend of mine posted this on facebook yesterday, and no, I have not made it yet.

Roasted cauliflower? A whole head of cauliflower? This recipe has you slathering cauliflower in a spicy yogurt marinade and roasting it at a high temperature. The result is an amazingly delicious dish thatâÂÂs as dramatic in presentation as it is easy in preparation. Serve it with a big green salad (we suggest lime juice and olive oil for the dressing) for an easy weeknight supper.

Spicy Whole Roasted Cauliflower

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 head cauliflower
1ý cups plain Greek yogurt
1 lime, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons chile powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400ð and lightly grease a small baking sheet with vegetable oil. Set aside.

2. Trim the base of the cauliflower to remove any green leaves and the woody stem.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt with the lime zest and juice, chile powder, cumin, garlic powder, curry powder, salt and pepper.

4. Dunk the cauliflower into the bowl and use a brush or your hands to smear the marinade evenly over its surface. (Excess marinade can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to three days and used with meat, fish or other veggies.)

5. Place the cauliflower on the prepared baking sheet and roast until the surface is dry and lightly browned, 30 to 40 minutes. The marinade will make a crust on the surface of the cauliflower.

6. Let the cauliflower cool for 10 minutes before cutting it into wedges and serving alongside a big green salad.

Thank you to PureWow for this wonderful photo http://www.purewow.com/entry_detail/recipe/8821/Forget-florets--roast-the-whole-damn-cauliflower.htm?utm_source=synd&utm_medium=ASKDRNANDI&utm_campaign=NOVEMBER14

DD made the cauliflower recipe with the yogurt and spices posted above. She likes cauliflower. She likes yogurt. She eats lots of spicy food.

I won't tell you how she characterized this dish. Her language was rather gross. She said it was so awful, they couldn't eat it at all. She will never make it again. YMMV

Even though you've found the recipe, plllog, I thought I'd post this in case someone is interested in options.

Watched a Thanksgiving show today and Alex Guarnaschelli made this. Sounds so good!

Here is a link that might be useful: Cauliflower Steaks in coconut milk

Alex, thanks for the recipe! That looks like exactly the kind of thing I originally asked for. I'd try it on another day except I'm allergic to coconut. I wonder if there are some special properties of coconut that are important, or if cashew milk or something could substitute for it.

Moni and Bbstx, thanks for the recipe and comments. I like the look of it. Maybe it's something that could be tweaked. Citrus and yoghurt can be iffy, so maybe that was the problem when the DD made it. I'll give it a try sometime.

I wouldn't have been so blunt in my comments about the recipe posted by OM if she had said she had cooked it and it was wonderful. But since she did say she hadn't cooked it, I thought I'd throw out DD's experience.

I sometimes cut a couple of what I call cauliflower cutlets from the head if I'm going to cook and mash the rest for soup. I steam them in a little bit of liquid in the microwave and serve with a topping of some kind.

The one in this photo had sliced shiitakes cooked in Madiera.

How about these cauliflower steaks (recipe from the WSJ)

-Babka

Here is a link that might be useful: Caramelized cauliflower steaks

Please excuse the level of detail. I write these for someone who really doesn't cook and needs the walk through.

Caulis Kugel

Based on Canarybird's Mallorcan Sopa by JC

• 200 g dried hearty bread crumbs (I used a heel of homemade whole grain bread and a 50% whole wheat sourdough waffle)--If you want a rigid serving, use up to double. Cooked and dried rice might be great instead. There's probably a way to use raw rice and all the liquid, too, but I don't work with rice much and am not sure.
• Lite olive oil for sautéing, or other cooking oil
• 6 eggs worth of 100% egg whites, or six whole eggs
• 2 bunches green chard, roughly chopped, inc. stems (about 14 small and large leaves)
• 1 green cabbage, cored, washed and cut into wedges
• 1 smallish cauliflower, cored and broken into fist sized pieces
• 2 onions, chopped
• Half lb. of peeled baby carrots, or equivalent, grated
• 2 red bell peppers, diced large
• 2 large ripe tomatoes or equivalent, peeled, seeded and diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 handfuls Italian parsley, leaves removed from stems and chopped
• 4 tsp sweet paprika powder (could use more)
• salt & pepper to taste

Set oven to 350ð F.

Grate
Use food processor to grate bread for crumbs and carrots.

Blanch
Steam blanch wedged cabbage and chopped chard for five minutes each, and broken up cauliflower for 10 minutes. (You might be able to skip this step.)

Chop
Cut cabbage wedges crosswise about an inch wide--I used a plastic lettuce knife. Chop onions, peppers, and tomatoes, into similar sized chunks, about 1/3-1/2 inch.

Roast
Break up the cauliflower into florets. Cut larger pieces. Remove excess stems (optional). Place in a single layer in a shallow pan or sheet, drizzle with oil which can take oven heat and roast for about half an hour, until just starting to brown. Continue on while roasting.

Sauté
Heat a large pan on medium high. Add oil to cover bottom. Sauté onions. When they start going translucent, add carrots. When the onions are getting soft, add the peppers and then the tomatoes. Keep stirring. Let the liquid reduce as much as possible until the mixture is well cooked together. Turn off heat and press the garlic over the top (or just place it if you crush it on a board, but you get the juice if you use a press over the pan).

Sweat
In a large (5 qt.) pot over medium heat, Add a bit of oil to the bottom and heat the cabbage until it loses a lot of its water, and reduces its volume by about half. Add the chard and mix. Wilt and reduce.

Strain
Use a fine mesh, mid-sized (about a cup of volume) strainer to strain the cabbage mix, pressing the liquid out of each scoop with your cooking spoon. Place in a dry bowl. Dry the pot it was in.

Put the chopped parsley in the bottom of the warm dry pot from the cabbage, on the warm, off, stove.

Strain the sauté the...