Roasted Romanesco Cauliflower

 

A guest post from our customer Audrey!

 

So I think I have met the coolest most beautiful vegetable ever. In all of its fractally, Fibonacci goodness: the Romanesco Cauliflower. It is beautiful to look at, especially as a scientist who loves to see this kind of amazing math in nature; but then, it also tastes awesome. Sweeter and nuttier that your standard white cauliflower. Due to its particularly aesthetic nature I could not bring myself to puree it, or turn it into soup. I thought about putting it in pasta, but even that seemed like I was hiding this super special veg. I also didn’t want to add too much to it, it tasted great raw. Finally I decided to roast. Super easy, wonderfully delicious. Olive oil, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, parmesan, and finally a squeeze of lemon. Don’t be afraid about roasting time, the little brown almost black tips are the best parts. I wished I had two heads of it in my Space Girl Organics box because I ate the whole head, alone, my husband was very disappointed. Oh well, I was full of cauliflower goodness, I guess I will just have to get a few more. I hope you enjoy

Ingredients:

1 head Romanesco cauliflower. Trimmed and cut unto florets.

You can eat the stem too, just cut it into similarly sized pieces.

2-3 Tbsps. Olive oil

1 tsp crushed red pepper (optional if you don’t like spice)

Salt and pepper to taste. About 2 tsp salt and 15 turns cracked black pepper for me

¼ cup grated parmesan

½ to 1 lemon

Recipe:

Heat oven to 400⁰F

Combine cauliflower, olive oil, crushed red pepper, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese in a large bowl. Toss to coat thoroughly. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet, I like to use a piece of parchment paper, but it is not required.

Bake for 35-45 minutes based on your oven and desired doneness. Half way through give it a good shake and rotate pan in oven for even cooking all over.

When it is reach desired doneness remove, give it a final squeeze of lemon for brightness and maybe a little more fresh parm. Enjoy! You will be back for more.