Ingredient

Cauliflower

Cauliflower was for decades a boiled vegetable served under cheese sauce to make it bearable. Roasted hard until it browns, it becomes nutty, sweet and genuinely good — and it is the same vegetable.

Why roasting works so much better

Cauliflower is bland and slightly sulphurous when boiled, because boiling adds nothing and leaches out what flavour there is. Roasting does the opposite: the surface dries, sugars and amino acids brown, and the vegetable develops a nutty, savoury depth that is not present in the raw ingredient at all.

The florets also have an enormous amount of surface area — every little bumpy face is somewhere browning can happen — which is why cauliflower rewards roasting more dramatically than most vegetables.

The requirements are the usual ones: high heat, enough oil, and space on the tray. See roast vegetables not browning if it comes out pale.

Ways to cook it

• Roasted florets — 220°C, oiled, spread out, 25–30 minutes until deeply browned at the edges. Add spices before roasting; they bloom in the oil.
• Whole roasted — trimmed, rubbed with oil and spice, roasted slowly then blasted. Striking, and it takes an hour or more.
• Steamed and puréed — with butter and cream it makes a purée as good as mashed potato and lighter.
• Cauliflower cheese — steam or boil only until just tender, drain very well, and use a strong cheese sauce. Overcooked cauliflower under sauce is what gave it a bad name.
• Fried florets — small pieces in a hot pan with oil, browned hard, finished with lemon and chilli.
• Raw — thinly sliced or grated into a salad. Surprisingly good, and it is what "cauliflower rice" is.

Breaking it up evenly

1. Pull the outer leaves off, but keep them — they roast well and taste like a cross between cabbage and cauliflower.
2. Turn the cauliflower upside down and cut the florets away from the central stalk where they join it, rather than cutting down through the head.
3. Cut larger florets in half through the stem so every piece has a flat face. Flat faces are where browning happens.
4. Aim for even sizes. Mixed sizes mean burnt small pieces and raw large ones.
5. Do not discard the stalk. Peel the tough outside and slice or dice the rest; it is sweet and cooks in the same time.
6. Collect the small crumbs that fall off — they crisp beautifully and are one of the best parts.

Buying and storing

• Look for a tight, creamy-white, unblemished head with fresh green leaves still attached. The leaves are the best indicator of freshness.
• Small brown spots are oxidation and are harmless — cut them off. Widespread grey or brown patches mean it is old.
• A head that has started to go loose and "ricey" at the surface is past its best and will taste stronger.
• It keeps a week or more in the fridge, loosely wrapped.
• Romanesco and purple or orange varieties cook identically. The purple colour fades when boiled and survives roasting better.

Common questions