Out of This World Cauliflower

Wandering through Whole Foods the other day, I was stopped dead in my tracks by, of all things, a cauliflower. More specifically, a romanesco cauliflower. It sports a lime green fractal-like spiraling pattern that is absolutely beautiful and otherworldly. In my opinion, it is quite possibly the most well-designed vegetable on the face of the planet (or whatever other planet it might have originated on). I quickly gathered up half-a-dozen florets.

We use a simple recipe to roast the garden variety cauliflower in the TurboChef Speedcook Oven at home. It takes about four minutes. So we decided to do the same thing with these precious little gems. A little olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, Parmesan, kosher salt and we popped them in the oven under the roasted vegetable setting. They came out just as beautiful, retaining their brilliant color while lightly browned on the tips. After a moment of hesitation, not wanting to disrupt the perfect pattern with knife and fork, we dug in. The result - milder, sweeter and more tender than standard cauliflower, the romanesco did not disappoint. It tasted as good as it looked.

Since then, I've been digging around for other ways to fix these little guys. Simple and traditional steaming, roasting and boiling preparations abound, but here's a nice little preparation twist from Albion Cooks. Enjoy.