This one time, I decided to try roasting a whole cauliflower! You can see the adventure in my What I Ate In A Day vlog that I post regularly on my own YouTube channel.
This is nothing new. I've been seeing pictures of whole cauli heads on Instagram for over a year now, but I had just never done it. It seemed silly. Why not just cut it up and roast it like normal people do?
It is a pretty thing, however, as suspected the seasoning and oil just didn't reach the core of the cauliflower. This sadly resulted in a bland middle! But the outside, dang it was tasty! I nearly ate the whole thing in one sitting. If you haven't hopped aboard the cauliflower for everything train yet, I suggest starting with my popular buffalo wings recipe. Below you'll find the recipe to make this whole roasted cauliflower.
whole roasted cauliflower
Ingredients
whole roasted cauliflower
- 1 head of cauliflower
- ¼ C finely chopped onion
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ C olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- 2 tablespoon finely chopped basil leaves
- sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- truffle oil (drizzle on top after roasting)
Instructions
- Leave the bottom leaves of the cauliflower in tact and trimmed the base so it can sit flat in a baking dish. Combine all the ingredients, except the truffle oil, in a bowl and pour over the whole head of cauliflower.
- Using your hands, rub the seasoning all over the cauliflower. Some people suggested I should have poured half the seasoning down the centre of the head from the bottom and tip it upside down to allow it to get in all the crevices, so try this if desired.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F for approximately 45 minutes.
- If desired, drizzle with some truffle oil right before eating.
Then I made these mini cauliflower sliders and then stopped myself before I devoured all the cauliflower. Because the way my brain works is that I have this insatiable need to transform food into other foods you'd never think of.
And so I needed to make a cheese sauce with this cauliflower, which was orange by the way, and that's where the idea originally came from!
So the following day I blended it up with a bunch of cheese-like ingredients that are part of my regular vegan cheese making arsenal! Honestly, the amounts are unknown from this exact creation, but if you watch enough of my videos then you know you can just substitute cauliflower for the potatoes in my nacho cheese sauce. That pasta was righteous!
Then because I'm crazy, the following day I transformed that cauliflower cheese sauce into a cauliflower ranch dip!
I always get asked what ranch actually is. Well traditionally it's just buttermilk, vinegar, and herbs like dill and chives. So that's exactly what I added to this cheese sauce to make it more tangy and herby. Apple cider vinegar is my magic elixir and dill just makes everything make more sense in this universe so it's always on hand! Ta da!
So there's the saga of the whole roasted cauliflower and a hella good example of how easy vegan cooking can be. Yes, you need to have a well stocked pantry, and that can take time, but you'll never be at a loss for yummy things to make for breakfast, lunch, or dinner ever again.
I know you're getting the hang of the RECIPE?! by now... so I leave you to your magic. Happy cooking!
Barbara
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