Cooking something new

Cauliflower. It's never something I gravitate towards. But the huge heads of them all over the farmer's market were calling, "Try me, try me!" Hard to resist when they are bright yellow like the sunshine.

Food bloggers everywhere are posting recipes, so it wasn't hard to find one. Two came through my reader in the last day, so tonight I went cauliflower ca-razy!

First, Gourmande in the Kitchen wooed me with this Roasted Cauliflower and Olives recipe. Her photographs are amazing! I roasted sliced garlic along with the cauliflower and they were like little chips.

Oh, my photos leave much to be desired. But practice practice. And lighting. And better silverware. And plates. But I post so I can see progress! Hopefully.

Then Sprouted Kitchen inspired me with a Caramelized Cauliflower Soup. Of course, I was hoping that my bright yellow guy would create a golden soup, but it was more of a blah tan. Still, it tasted so good. I actually changed up the recipe a bit. When I took out the roasted cauliflower from the oven, they were so bright yellow. I could have sworn I smelled curry. It made me want some cumin, so in it went!

The recipes (altered a bit to use what I had):

Roasted Cauliflower and Olives
1 cauliflower head, cut into bite-sized florets
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, sliced thin
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup Kalamata olives
1 tbsp dried rosemary
1 tbsp thyme leaves
2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup chopped roasted walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. On a large baking sheet, toss cauliflower with oil, garlic slices and season with 2-3 large pinches of salt and pepper
3. Roast in oven, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes
4. Add the olives and herbs and roast an additional 8 minutes.
5. Toss in walnuts, season with more salt and pepper if desired.
6. EAT!!

Caramelized Cauliflower Soup
1 cauliflower head, cut into florets
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small red onion, sliced thinly
2 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1 tbsp cumin
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
3 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. On a large baking sheet, toss cauliflower with oil, garlic, onion and season with 2-3 large pinches of salt and pepper, as well as nutmeg and cumin
3. Roast in oven, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes
4. When done, add to pot over medium heat. Pour over broth and vinegar. Using an immersion blender, blend soup until smooth. Bring to a boil.
5. Ladle into bowl and slurp it up, yo! (I can't believe I did that. I've read it on other blogs and just had to give it a try.)

I spooned a few small florets over the soup with a tad of parsley for some color.

Now that I'm full o' flower, I'm hitting the sack. Didn't sleep well last night and got an early morning tomorrow. Mmmm.... pillow.