Roasted Cauliflower

I recently got my March 2012 Everyday Food magazine and was excited to see that the “In Season” section highlighted cauliflower. I just happened to have 4 heads of Colorful Harvest Cauliflower in my fridge that needed to be cooked. Cauliflower is an excellent source of vitamin C, fiber and potassium and I’ve loved it since I was a kid… kind of random, but true.

The magazine had recipes for dip, a pasta dish, soup and roasted cauliflower with shallots and golden raisins. I didn’t have shallots on hand, I didn’t have regular breadcrumbs, only panko… so I decided to give it a try with what I had.

Ingredients:
1 Large Head Cauliflower – cut into florets
1/2 Medium Yellow Onion – thinly slices
4-5 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 Teaspoons Dijon Mustard
1.5 Cups Panko Breadcrumbs
1/2 Cup Golden Raisins
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Pre-cook cauliflower in microwave in shallow dish with some water for 2-3 minutes and pat dry with paper towels.
• Toss cauliflower with 2-3 tablespoons olive oil.
• Saute thinly sliced yellow onion until softened.
• Add cauliflower and onion to a rimmed baking sheet and add salt and pepper before placing into the oven.
• Roast for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium sized bowl, whisk together dijon mustard and 2 tablespoons oil, then stir in panko breadcrumbs and golden raisins.
• Take cauliflower out of the oven after 15 minutes and sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over the top and roast until golden brown – about 15-20 more minutes.

I used florets from all three different colored heads of cauliflower. I placed them in a shallow glass dish with less than an inch of water, covered them with a paper towel and microwaved them for 3 minutes. I then patted the florets dry on a towel.

The colors were so vibrant…

I added the florets to a plastic bag with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and mixed things up really well.

I sliced up 1/2 the medium onion and put it into a pan with some olive oil and salt and pepper and cooked them until they softened a bit.

I then combined the onion and cauliflower onto the baking sheet and put them into the oven for 15 minutes.

While the cauliflower was roasting, I made the raisin, mustard and breadcrumb mixture. I whisked the mustard with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and then added the cup and a 1/2  of panko and 1/2 cup of raisins.

The original recipe was for a smaller batch – but I used almost double the cauliflower, so I thought I’d need more of the crumb topping.

I coated the cauliflower and then put it back into the oven for an additional 20 minutes. The original recipe had a total cooking time of 20 minutes… mine needed much more.

I loved the flavors of the dish. The dijon, raisin and breadcrumb mixture was a perfect match to the cauliflower. Next time I might not use as much of the breadcrumb mixture and I also might try it without pre-cooking the cauliflower – just to see if the texture changes. I did end up adding some shredded parm to the leftovers and that worked well too.

Thank you Colorful Harvest for the cauliflower and carrots – I sure had fun trying out some new recipes.