Greenmarket Demo: Cauliflower and apple

Cauliflower is an underrated vegetable. It tastes sweet. The florets feel bumpy on the tongue. Slices of cauliflower look like trees after being caramelized in the oven.

Before Jessi Colon, manager for the Inwood Greenmarket, asked me to do a cooking demo on cauliflower, I hadn't cooked it since I made an Indian dish a couple years ago. I looked at different cauliflower recipes, like the one in The Essential New York Times Cookbook. I just needed to know how to roast it properly. For a test run, I roasted the cauliflower with apple because I wanted something sweeter to go with the vegetable. I also added rosemary and thyme. When I ate the cauliflower and apple, the dish needed another ingredient to make it pop. I had bought a bottle of white balsamic vinegar after liking the taste of it on salads at Roberta's where I interned. I twisted the top and drizzled the vinegar over the cauliflower and apples. It brightened the dish.

At the Inwood Greenmarket Saturday, I cooked the cauliflower and apple on a portable gas burner and handed out samples. I was pretty stoked because I got to cook with orange and white cauliflower and romanesko, a type of cauliflower that has coned buds and looks like it came from an alien planet. By the end of the demo, all the samples were gone.




Roasted cauliflower and apple
Serves 4

1/2 head cauliflower
1 apple (Mutsu, Golden Delicious or Pink Lady); cored, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, minced or 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, minced or 2 teaspoons dried thyme
white Balsamic vinegar to taste
salt
fresh ground black pepper
olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cut the core out of the cauliflower and then cut florets into 1/2-inch slices. Set aside 1/2 tablespoon each of rosemary and thyme for the apple chunks. Toss the cauliflower in olive oil and the remaining rosemary and thyme. Season the cauliflower with salt and freshly ground pepper.

In another bowl, toss the apple chunks in olive oil, salt, pepper and the herbs that were previously set aside. 

Spread only the cauliflower on a sheet pan and roast in the oven for 25 minutes or until tender. After the cauliflower slices have been in the oven for 10-15 minutes, add the seasoned apple chunks to the pan and flip the cauliflower slices for even caramelization. (The apples would become mushy if cooked for 25 minutes.)

Season cauliflower and apple chunks with white balsamic vinegar to taste. Serve as a side.

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