Category: Cauliflower

*this is an updated post by Mo. The original was posted 2014 by Amy.

This recipe is adaptable to using Romanesco and or cauliflower. Both are very similar in texture, flavor, cooking methods and time. Béchamel is a basic creamy sauce that is used in many classic dishes. When I worked in restaurants we called Bechamel sauce ‘Culinary Duct Tape’. It pulls textures and flavors together, and upgrades dishes from simple to special, like magic.

This is super simple and fast dish to make. Gather your (very white if not using Romanesco) ingredients.

Recipe

1-2 heads Romanesco and/or cauliflower cut into manageable sizes
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup flour any flour will do, even gluten free or corn flour
1 1/2 cups milk, any type of milk works
1/2 cup grated cheese, plus more to sprinkle on top. This is optional again, any cheese works here. This is where you can get really fancy, try Blue cheese or Brie or English Cheddar or whatever you love. It’s super fun to customize.
White pepper
Salt

Steam the Romanesco and cauliflower until almost tender for about 5 minutes in a covered pan. They will cook more in the oven, so you want to leave them a little bit firm. Romanesco takes a little longer to get tender so check after 5 minutes for cauliflower and 7 or 8 for Romanesco.

To make the Béchamel sauce. Melt the butter over medium-low heat then whisk in the flour to make a roux.

Add 1/2 cup milk, whisking constantly. Whisk until the lumps dissolve and you have a smooth, thick paste. Add the remaining cup of milk, 1/2 cup at a time. Each time you should whisk until the sauce thickens. When you can draw a line that stays on a spoon the sauce is the right consistency.

When the sauce has thickened (roughly the consistency of thin gravy), stir in the cheese, white pepper, and salt to taste. Remove sauce from heat.

Place half of the florets on the bottom of your baking dish and half of of the Béchamel sauce.

Put the remaining half of the florets on top of the first layer and cover with the remaining Béchamel sauce and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake in a pre-heated 375F degree oven until golden brown, about 30 minutes.

This is a great side dish for simple weeknight meals or a fancy holiday celebration.

I am super late to trying cauliflower rice. I was/am perfectly happy to make and eat rice. I love the flavor and texture so I didn’t see the point in messing with what I thought was already a good thing, until I (and probably you) found myself with huge amounts of cauliflower from our CSA share this year! In the past month I have roasted cauliflower, made curry, and one of my favorite things to do with cauliflower is to make this delicious sauce. I still found myself with more cauliflower to eat in my refrigerator.

So, I tried making cauliflower rice and I love it. It’s super easy and fast to make. Fluffy and crunchy at the same time and unlike regular rice, cauliflower rice is really good cold and room temperature. AND it freezes beautifully!

To make it all you do is break off some cauliflower florets and pulse them 8 or 10 times in food processor until it looks like rice. Or you can use a box grater if you don’t feel like busting out the food processor.

To cook it all I did was heat a little oil in a pan with garlic and sauteed the cauliflower until it was just starting to turn brown and added some salt and pepper and chives. You don’t have to brown it if you might want it just cooked through and leave it more white. Any herb would be nice here as would any sauce, just like rice! This is a really nice side dish and pretty much goes with anything.

You can steam cauliflower rice or even eat it raw! I love making ‘Buddha Bowls’ with the leftovers and other odds and ends I have laying around.

I haven’t tried it yet but I think making fried ‘rice’ with cauliflower would be so good.

Well Folks, this is the last week of our regular CSA. Thanks for your support. We appreciate you all so much and hope to see you back next year. The Winter CSA starts next week so sign up before we sell out! I love the winter CSA vegetables so SO SO much! I’ll be making lots of soups, stews, baked dishes! Yum!

See you at the last pickup!

Mo

 

Vegetable curries are a staple at our house. Curries are one of those ‘clean out the refrigerator’ meals that I can make in the morning and go to work, come home and reheat and have a warm filling satisfying meal.

You only need a few basic pantry ingredients and 4-6 cups of pretty much any vegetable you like. I used cauliflower, celery and a couple peppers. Winter squash is good, as is broccoli or potatoes. You can add a protein like tofu, chicken or hard boiled eggs. Eggs are great in curry! Add any protein when you add the vegetables to the broth. Serve it with rice or noodles or eat it as a thick stew or soup. It only takes a few minutes to make, but improves and mellows with some simmering and rest time. Leftovers are great.

Cauliflower and Celery Curry

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1-3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 knob of ginger, peeled and chopped
• 1–2 tablespoons curry powder (taste for more)
• 1–2 tablespoons turmeric
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sweetener, any kind-sugar, agave, brown sugar
• 4-6 cups any vegetables you like, cauliflower, celery, peppers, potatoes, zucchini, winter squash
• 1 14-ounce can coconut milk
• 1 cup water or broth, I always use water
• anything you have for toppings like nuts, herbs, scallions, raisins

Sauté the onion, garlic and ginger in oil until softened and add the spices and sweetener. I like agave or brown sugar for sweetening. Curry needs heat to ‘bloom’, you will smell spices ‘open up’ and mellow as the dish cooks.

Add the coconut milk and water or broth and let the simmer for 5-10 minutes. Taste it and see if you want more curry or sweetener. It might taste a little bitter, don’t worry. Add a little more sweetener and let it simmer a little longer. It looks watery and grainy. It will thicken and smooth out with a little time.

Add your vegetables (and protein if using), I add a lot of vegetables, they cook down. You can add fewer vegetables if you want more curry gravy/sauce. Cover it and let it simmer another 10 or 15 minutes.

See how much it has cooked down in just a few minutes.

Taste it again and adjust salt, sweetener or even more curry powder. That’s it. Cover it and let it simmer a while.

I love curry with a little rice, some nuts or seeds (sunflower, cashew or almond) and raisins.

Only four weeks left! Have a great week. See you at pickup.

Mo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cauliflower is kind of like tofu and eggplant in the sense it is almost a blank slate. It soaks up any sauces or seasonings you add to it. You can blanch it or steam it (I love it steamed) or make it into a luscious creamy sauce.  Because it is really low in fiber it almost disappears when baked in a gratin or sauce.

Roasted cauliflower should be barely browned with subtle crispy edges. It gets a slightly sweet-nutty flavor when it is roasted and is more firm than when it is steamed or braised in a sauce.  Roasted Cauliflower makes a simple versatile side dish as is  and is good either hot or room temperature.

Let’s roast some cauliflower. Start by preheating your oven to 400F. If you don’t preheat the oven your cauliflower will steam and won’t brown so make sure your oven is all the way preheated.

All you need is a cauliflower and some oil and salt.

Wash your cauliflower and take off the dark green leaves.

Turn it over and cut off the stem.

Then cut out the core. Stick a paring knife on the side of the core at an angle and cut in a circle and the core will come right out.

Now you can roast it whole. This makes a nice presentation for a fancy meal. Just put it on a sheet pan, (I like to use a baking mat or parchment paper so it doesn’t stick) in a preheated 400F oven and rub olive oil and salt on it and bake for 30-35 minutes until brown. This photo is showing it if I was going to roast it whole.

Or you can break it into large chunks and roast it the same temperature and time. Try to keep the size of the chunks even to they cook evenly. I like to serve large chunks of roasted cauliflower like I would a roasted potato or with a rich sauce like hollandaise or Romesco.

Here I’ve broken the cauliflower into small  florets and rubbed with salt and oil. Leave some room for air flow so the florets can brown. Small florets are nice in salads, a simple side dish, served with dips or my new favorite cauliflower tacos!

Here it is done, about 35 minutes later.

Simple and delicious.

Have a great week. See you at pickup.

Mo

 

 

*This post was updated with photos and notes on 10-2025

This one of my favorite dishes to make and eat. Cauliflower ‘Alfredo’ is lush and creamy without being heavy and rich and is really satisfying.

This is a super adaptable dish, you can make it vegan, or add milk, or cheese or chicken stock.  You can soak a handful of cashews overnight and blend them into the sauce to add fantastic richness and protein or add some leftover rotisserie chicken for a delicious weeknight chicken alfredo pasta that is healthy!  Try this sauce on pasta or with on roasted vegetables, or even on pizza instead of red sauce.

I sauteed some chard and mushrooms and topped it with some cauliflower sauce here.

It’s rich but not overly so. Most recipes I have seen for this cauliflower sauce use milk, you can use any milk-plant or animal base or add nutritional yeast or any hard cheese. Use what you like and what you have, and I think you will be very happy with the result. Seriously you guys, you should make this.

Cauliflower ‘Alfredo’ Sauce

Taste and see if it needs any salt and if you are adding cheese or nutritional yeast do that now and taste it again and add a squeeze of lemon.

Cauliflower is packed full of all the B vitamins, loaded with antioxidants and also contains carotenoids, and phytonutrients, so it’s not just delicious it’s so healthy too!

 

This is a great, easy, make-ahead dish for a potluck. It’s good at room temperature and travels well.

Core and wash your cauliflower, keeping it whole.

Put the whole cauliflower in a glass pie plate with 2 teaspoons of water, cover with wax paper, and microwave for 7 minutes. How long it will take to cook depends on how big your cauliflower is. Just check it around 5 or 6 minutes. Don’t overcook it or it will fall apart.

While that is cooking, mix:

• ½ cup bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
• Salt, pepper, and any other seasonings you like

When the cauliflower is done drain off any water out of the pan and spread the crumb mixture on the cauliflower. Broil the cauliflower head until the crumb mixture is brown and crunchy.

This is a great dish for summer. The microwave doesn’t heat up the house and the broiler is only on for a few minutes so it doesn’t get too hot from that either.

Serve the cauliflower on a dish with some dressed greens and let people break off as many florets as they like. This is one of those dishes that people who say they don’t like cauliflower will eat.

– Mo