Purple is the new “it” color at my house. Purple cauliflower, anyway. Have you tried it? It’s actually a beautiful veg, but I tend to fall in love with any food that inspires my 4-year old to ask for a bite – all on her own.
Not only a beauty, it’s also a nutritional powerhouse, jam-packed with the flavonoid “anthocyanin” — the very same stuff that gives blueberries their claim to fame. Anthocyanin is responsible for the purple pigment, but it’s also a super potent plant compound that’s been shown in studies to prevent heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer.
Blueberries, raspberries, cranberries, blackberries, Concord grapes, and cherries are the richest sources of anthocyanin, but you can also get it from purple veggies like eggplant, purple carrots, purple cabbage, beets, purple kale, and purple onions (and purple cauliflower!).
There are a ton of ways you can cook with cauliflower. I grew up eating it tossed with spaghetti. My mom would whip up this delicious dish up once a week for a quick weeknight meal. She tossed warm pasta with steamed cauliflower and dressed it with olive oil, crunchy bits of garlic and fresh parsley. Yes, my mom can cook some serious pasta!
These days my go-to (and super easy) way to prepare it is by roasting it. What’s your favorite way?
Chop up the cauliflower plus any other veggie you want to roast with it (I used Brussels sprouts). Place in a bowl and coat with olive oil (or coconut oil for a sweeter taste), salt, and pepper. Lay out onto a baking sheet.
Roast at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until soft.
Serve with something delicious like broiled salmon. ;-)
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
This looks amazing! I love the idea of combining the cauliflower and brussel sprouts when roasting (I’ve been doing them separately)…simply brilliant
Thanks, Mina! Cauliflower and Brussels are my two favs!
Don’t forget purple potatoes! They are delicious!
This makes me want to go out and buy brussels sprouts to roast.
I love eating it right off the pan after being roasted, but if it makes it to a dish, it’s usually tossed with whole wheat pasta, parsley, lemon juice and Parmesan cheese.
Me, too! Sometimes it never makes it into my dish!
I came across Mark Bittman’s recipe for cauliflower pasta; it’s delicious and unbelievably simple to prepare!
http://markbittman.com/the-minimalist-pasta-with-cauliflower
Looks wonderful! I love cauliflower…I eat it several times each week!
I just got my first one in my share. I had a hard tome eating it because it was so beautiful! Finally roasted a lot like you did here and it was wooonnndddeeerful!
Yum!
Wow amazing! Now if I could get my hands on purple cauliflower, have never tried it so would love to taste it. Love salmon too!
Roasting cauliflower is the best! Seasoning it with garlic pepper is my favorite.
cauliflowers are very tricky vegetables i think I like them but easily run out of ideas to make them! btw where did you get these pretty purple cauliflowers?