Roasting Broccoli or Cauliflower
If you’re like most people, you probably look at your head of broccoli or cauliflower and see two possibilities: steamed/boiled or raw. There’s a third, more exciting option for what you can do with that vegetable, though: roast it! The dry-heat cooking method gives your cooked vegetable a more pleasing texture and tossing it with oil and spicxes before hand gives it a mouth-smiling taste because the florets cling to the oil and lock the flavor in. Whenever I get one of these vegetables, I don’t even consider pulling out a saucepan anymore. Instead, I grab a mixing bowl and a cookie sheet.
Roasted broccoli or cauliflower
Preheat your oven to 350 F.
Then, cut your vegetable. If using broccoli, cut the florets down to about half the size of golf balls. Trim the outside of the stem off because it’s tough and fibrous; the inside of the stem is tender and delicious. Cut it into chunks about half the size of the florettes.
If you’re using cauliflower, cut the head in half and then use the tip of your chef’s knife to (carefully) cut out the core. Unlike the broccoli stem, it is not good to eat. Cut the cauliflower florettes to the same size as you would broccoli.
If you’re using both cauliflower and broccoli, keep them separate. Cauliflower needs to cook a few minutes longer than broccoli does. They can share the same tray and finish cooking together, but if you mix them together from the beginning, you’re facing the spectre of either having undercooked cauliflower or overcooked broccoli.
Toss your vegetables in a mixing bowl with enough olive oil to coat them generously. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and ground ginger. Be careful with how much seasoning you use. Sprinkle not quite as much as you think looks right for how much vegetable you have in the bowl, and make sure you toss it around well to spread it evenly. If you overseason these roasted vegetables, the florets will lock the salt in and make your mouth pucker with each bite. It’s better to have too little to start with (because you can always add more) than to have too much (because you can never take it away).
Spread your seasoned vegetable onto a cookie sheet with a lip (so the oil won’t spill over the side). Put into your preheated oven about 17-20 minutes for cauliflower; about 12-14 minutes for broccoli. If you’re doing both, add the broccoli to the pan after the cauliflower have been cooking for about five minutes. I guarantee that the finished results will be tastier than any boiled version of these vegetables that you’ve ever had.
Want to add a sauce? Cheese sauce is the obvious choice. To make your own, read about bechamel sauce and its cheese sauce variation. Then again, maybe you’d like to try hollandaise with this one. Or, if you’d rather try a new flavor, don’t be afraid. These sauces are easily adaptable to fit your taste preferences.
January 4th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
AMEN! I am a reformed cooked vegetable hater. What I discovered I really hate about cooked vegetables is the waterlogged texture/flavor. Since I started roasting cauliflower it has become a mainstay of our dinner table. Where as before only my father would eat the boiled pieces, now my roasted cauliflower (spiked with whole garlic cloves for flavor and to have roasted garlic cloves) is the first thing to vanish. I have also started roasting other vegetables and it is indeed a most wonderful way to cook!
January 5th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
This is our preferred method also, with the addition of red pepper flakes.
January 8th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Here here! Roasting cauliflower especially is one trend I’ve been happy to see take off. Variations on the above that I particularly like include (1) dressing cauliflower and an onion, quarterd with the layers pulled apart, with a mix of olive oil, a little red wine vinegar, a bit of toasted crushed cumin and coriander, curry power, salt, and pepper, and (2) making roasted cauliflower into soup.
July 24th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
[...] I hope you have perhaps already tried roasting broccoli and cauliflower because it really does produce a better result than boiling or steaming it. And I’m sure you have experience hard boiling eggs. When you take the two dishes and combine them creatively, you wind up with a darned tasty salad. [...]
March 19th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
[...] This Spanish-style dish is a great variation on roasted cauliflower! [...]
August 30th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Mostly i just saute broccoli but after reading your article i found some ideas. Thanks for posting.
January 22nd, 2011 at 12:51 am
Yes! The only thing I take exception to is that the core of the cauliflower is not good to eat. It’s my favorite part! But I eat it raw with salt.