Whole Roasted Cauliflower

I kept seeing recipes for whole roasted cauliflower cropping up on Pinterest and other food sites I frequent (like this one from Bon Appétit), so when I was perusing the produce section at the grocery store last weekend I snagged a big head of cauliflower. It's all about preparation, people! The amount of times I am craving something I've seen all week and yet didn't get the ingredients to make is just too high to count, so I try to make up for that by doing things like buying the cauliflower when I know I want to eventually make it.

There are a lot of recipes out there and after making it just once I finally understand why. It's really really really easy to make. Plus, if you've had roasted cauliflower with just salt and pepper you know that it lends it's own caramelized veggie umami flavor without much coaxing. Wins upon wins, my friends!

To be honest it, I kind of winged it, and this was a success in my books as in nothing I would have changed. Next time I will try this recipe just because the pictures are so dang tantalizing. And because as soon as I was finished I wanted to make a million more.

Ingredients:

• 1 head cauliflower
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons green curry paste
• 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili flakes

Note:  You are going to first boil the cauliflower so if you don't have a gigantic stock pot, just use a pot large enough to at least fit the cauliflower and cover it halfway up with water.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 475 F. 
2. Bring a large pot of water to boil and add the bay leaf. Place the cauliflower head in the water, and boil for a total of 10 minutes, rotating the cauliflower halfway through.
3. Drain, and rinse gently with cold water until cool enough to handle.
4. In a small bowl, mix the remaining ingredients. 
5. Place the cauliflower stem-side down in a pie dish or casserole dish wide enough to hold the cauliflower. Rub the seasoning mix all over the cauliflower.
6. Roast in the center of the oven for 50-60 minutes, until it is a deep golden color. 
7. Remove carefully with a large spatula and serve it warm on a plate. You can gently slice wedges of the cauliflower to serve, similar to how you'd cut a cake.  Serve it hot as veggie side dish with dips/spreads such as baba ganoush or tzaziki. We ate this with roasted chicken and it was perfecto.