Whole Roasted Cauliflower

With Thanksgiving coming up, I’ve seen a lot of interesting options come up for vegetarians. I thought I would try some out in preparation, and out of curiosity. One of the ones I tried was Food52’s (I love that place) recipe for a whole roasted cauliflower. I thought it sounded unique and frankly, the picture on the website is beautiful. Mine didn’t turn out as well because I forgot to turn the pan, so don’t forget!

As per usual, I didn’t follow this recipe exactly as I thought I needed a little more vegetables. So I added carrots and onion. I also didn’t make the goat cheese spread since I have a strange relationship with cheese, though I bet it would be incredible.

Ingredients

• 1 
head cauliflower, whole, stem trimmed and leaves removed
• 1 onion quartered and diced into inch long pieces
• 5 carrots, cut into inch long pieces
• 2 1/2
 cups dry white wine
• 1/3
 cup olive oil plus more for serving
• 1/4 
cup kosher salt
• 3 
tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 
tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 
tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste)
• 1 
tablespoon sugar
• 1 
bay leaf
• Coarse sea salt (for serving)

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 475° F. Bring wine, oil, salt, lemon juice, butter, red pepper flakes, sugar, bay leaf, and 8 cups water to a boil in a large pot.
2. Carefully lower in cauliflower, onions, and carrots. Reduce heat, and simmer, turning occasionally, until a knife easily inserts into center. This will take 15 to 20 minutes depending on the size of the cauliflower.
3. Using 2 slotted spoons, transfer cauliflower to a rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan, draining well. Roast, rotating pan halfway through, until brown all over, 30 to 40 minutes. *If you want, you can do what I did here and save the liquid for another use. It’s quite flavorful so you could use it to boil pasta of simmer vegetables.
4. Transfer cauliflower to a plate. Drizzle with left over liquid; sprinkle with sea salt.