6 shares Share

Tweet

Pin

Making healthy food doesn’t have to be complicated. It can just really be that simple, it can be enough.

I am totally guilty of thinking of too many steps, too many things, just too much to add to a dish sometimes. I’m not a chef, this is not for a restaurant, so why make it so crazy for myself? Let’s go straightforward and let the cauliflower shine.

One of my favorite ways to cook cauliflower is to roast it. Roasting it amplifies it’s flavor and is also really quick and simple.

Though you can roast a whole cauliflower head, that takes much longer than I’ve got time for on a busy weeknight, so I take some time to break the cauliflower down into smaller florets (those cute little trees).

Breaking down a cauliflower has a little bit a technique to it. If you’ve just cut a cauliflower up before, you’ve seen all those little bits fly everywhere, cluttering your cutting board rather than making it to your plate.

The easiest way to separate the floret from the stalk starts from the bottom. Break off or cut away the leaves first. Then, with a paring knife, cut one tree away from the stalk at a time. If the florets are larger than bite site, cut it if half. As you get closer to the top of the curd, you’ll notice the florets get smaller. You can cut them away individually or let a few florets live on the same base.

When you’re done, you’ll have a pile of florets and a conical stalk. The stalk is edible, too. You can cut off about 1/4″ from the end and chop that into small chunks and roast that as well.

Once that’s done, all you have to do is season and roast. That’s it! You’ve got a simple and nutritious side dish ready to go, complication free.

Want more cauliflower dishes from this series? You can find them here:

Nutrition DL: Cauliflower

Swiss Chard and Tomato Cauliflower Rice

Roasted Cauliflower Greek Yogurt Dip

Quick Roasted Cauliflower Soup

This recipe is part of a series called Nutrition DL. Nutrition DL gives you the download on seasonal fruits, vegetables, or pantry staples. Once you learn about the basics of the featured ingredient, I share a four recipes over four weeks to inspire and feed you with this great seasonal food. Check out other foods I’ve covered here.