Whole roasted cauliflower

The Kitchen Coach

Entire roasted cauliflower

This is almost certainly the most glorifying way to prepare and serve roasted cauliflower: baked total, golden and crisp on the outside, lovingly melting and soft on the inside, a real centerpiece!

It is one of the most beloved methods to put together and serve the cauliflower and has that demonstrate-stopping electrical power as it arrives to the table. That is why I chose to attribute it in ma Cauliflower cook guide (web page 62).

That is all the water you need to have to steam a complete cauliflower. Photo by: Assaf Ambram

Complete oven roasted cauliflower was made well-known in the US thanks to James Beard awarded Chef Alon Shaya (featured on food52 Genius Recipe guide), and is regarded a signature dish of chef Eyal Shany, who serves it in his Miznon dining establishments in Melbourne, Paris, Vienna, New York and Tel Aviv.

As easy as this recipe is, there are some things you should note. If you had been to get a entire cauliflower and just spot it in a hot oven, the within will remain challenging and crunchy, and you want it tender and carve in a position.

And that’s how she will appear like following 13 minutes of steaming. Photo by: Assaf Ambram

That is why I commence by steaming the cauliflower in purchase to partially soften its fibrous framework. Only then it goes within a scorching oven to roast, turning out to be excitingly crisp and golden on the outdoors, tender and juicy within.

Why do I steam and not boil?
Some recipes phone for boiling a entire head of cauliflower in a pot complete of water, but for me, it is not the very best way to tenderize it.

As soon as the cauliflower is extra to the pot, the water needs some time to recover the heat and return to simmer, and nutrients from the florets leach out to the water during the prolonged cooking time.

Same goes for blanching florets (but to a lesser extent). Also, boiling can easily consequence in more than cooked, water logged cauliflower, and that is never ever a very good point.

Enable your cauli to rest for ten minutes soon after steaming. Photo by: Assaf Ambram

The tree method
My solution? Stand the cauliflower upright, like a tree! This is a approach I first created for broccoli, and it functions even much better with its pearly white sibling.

When you stand the cauliflower in a pot, you only need to have to include all around four cm (two.five in) to cook the entire head! As soon as the pot is covered and the water reaches a boil, the heat from the water vapor penetrates the florets, collapsing their cell walls and producing them far more tender. The primary stem of the cauliflower also softens in the procedure (don’t fear – it won’t burn up).

Once steamed, all that is left to de is oil it generously and location in a quite sizzling oven to roast, just like you would roast a prime lower of beef.

Then move to a baking sheet, massage with olive oil and salt and onto the oven! Photo by: Assaf Ambram

Note that:
Even though most roasted cauliflower recipes want you to trim away the outer stalks of the crown, right here they are a lot more than welcome: they turn into crisp in the oven, just like kale chips.

This recipe is very best during the peak season of cauliflower – fall/winter/spring. If you have any purpose to believe the cauliflower will not be clean of bugs on the inside, break it down into florets, clean, steam and then roast.

>> Have you ever experimented with roasted cabbage?