Best Cauliflower Recipes: Farmers Market Faves

No Comments | Written on August 22, 2012 at 5:00 pm, by Amy Keyishian

Cauliflower simply never appealed to me the way other vegetables do: it wasn’t a little tree, like broccoli, nor did it have its own flavorful appeal, like carrots. (Check out this slide show of carrot recipes, too, by the way.) It didn’t even sneak up on me, like Brussels sprouts. But cauliflower is my husband’s number-one favorite, so I have been on a quest to find recipes that encourage me to enjoy it as much as he does.

There’s a bigger payoff here than romance on the home front, though. Cauliflower is low in carbs and high in fiber — plus it’s packed with Vitamin C and folate — that thing women are always told to take. It’s good for you. Really good. And when it’s farm-fresh, there’s an almost nutty flavor to it — subtle, but appealing.

If you’re a cauliflower novice, the entry strategy seems to be: Pretend it’s potatoes. Mash it, smash it, roast it, douse it with cheese — taking into account cauliflower’s less starchy and mushy texture. Once you’ve snuck it into enough standard sides, you can branch out to recipes that really celebrate its form — the golden cauliflower with pumpkin seeds, topped with fresh herbs to showcase this blossom-like veg, might be the best presentation we can think of, by the way.