Oven-Roasted Cauliflower: A Cold Weather Side

With much of the nation in the grip of a cold snap this week, I imagine that many wood cookstove users have had their stoves operating at full tilt.  The recipe that I want to share with you tonight is perfect for these very cold days when we are maintaining hot fires in our ranges for home heating purposes.

This recipe has only been in our possession for a week.  Last Wednesday, we hosted a potluck for one of the ladies' auxiliaries of the church where Nancy grew up.  This recipe for Oven-Roasted Cauliflower was brought by one of the ladies in attendance that night.  It was a big hit, so I passed out recipe cards, and those of us who were interested quickly took down the recipe.  The lady who brought it was not sure where the recipe came from because her husband had given it to her.  She said that she thought the recipe must have originated in some kind of a diet cookbook because it said that a serving counted as "two points."  If anyone recognizes it and knows where it came from, please let me know in the comments section.

Here is what you'll need:

6 cups of fresh cauliflower florets (be sure to use the stalks too)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
juice from 1/2 a lemon
3 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste (go especially easy on the salt; you don't need much)

The ingredients for Oven-Roasted Cauliflower.

Combine all and toss to coat.

Place all in a baking dish and bake at 450 degrees for one hour, stirring occasionally.  That's right: 450 degrees for one hour!  This is what makes it perfect for cooking on these days when our stoves are running hot.

The cauliflower mixture going into a quick oven.

I stirred at roughly twelve minute intervals.

Another aspect of this recipe that makes it a good wood cookstove recipe is that it is pretty flexible. The lady who brought it to the potluck said that she only cooked hers for 45 minutes at 450.  Our oven temperature fluctuated between 425 and 450, and we left ours in for a whole hour.

The finished product.  Note that the cauliflower
shrinks quite a bit during the roasting. 
Hmmm . . . not really looking forward to washing
this dish.

Nancy had not eaten any at the potluck because she didn't notice it on the table, but she loved it tonight.  I ate mine with a helping of the leftover beans and wieners that my nephew helped us make for supper on Saturday night.  It was a great supper!

I know that some people would say that this should be a summer recipe because that's when cauliflower would be in season in our part of the world.  I can see that point of view, but when cauliflower is in season, the last thing that I would want to do is have an oven of any variety heated to 450 degrees for an hour, so I'll spend the money to buy out-of-season cauliflower.

Hope you enjoy it!