Chappaqua Farmers Market: Think you know cauliflower?  Roast it!

The market is open from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm at the Chappaqua Train Station
October 7, 2011
by Pascale LeDraoulec

• Yoga by Breathe 8:30 - 9:30
• Cooking Demo Maria Reina 10:45-12:45
• Music Daniel Hallford from Amadeus 10:30-1:00
• Halloween Costume Swap 8:30 - 1:30
• Cornell Cooperative Extension 8:30-1:30

Last week, the sight of cauliflower at the markets made me giddy. Farmers market cauliflower always looks more interesting than store-bought. I love its wrap-around leaves revealing only a smidgen of the cabbage flower’s pockmarked, lunar-like surface.

If you think cauliflower shines only when it’s raw, served on a party platter…I’m here to tell you different. Cauliflower really rocks when it’s roasted.

Roasting the vegetable at a high temperature causes its natural sugars to caramelize and the cauliflower becomes disarmingly sweet and succulent.  I guarantee you the following recipe will change the way you look at cauliflower forever.  This makes for a great, simple side dish for company or when served with a market salad, a simple light vegetarian meal in the colder months.

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER
Adapted from “Cowgirl Cuisine (Rustic Recipes and Cowgirl Adventures from a Texas Ranch)”
Serves 4

Ingredients

2 large heads of CAULIFLOWER, cored and trimmed of any brown spots
OLIVE OIL
1½  tsp of KOSHER SALT
Freshly ground BLACK PEPPER
1 tsp of GROUND CUMIN (totally optional—but I add cumin to just about everything)

(Interesting factoid: In sixteenth-century England, cauliflower was called “Cyprus coleworts,” probably because it was first imported from the island of Cyprus. )

Preheat the oven to 400F. Cut the cauliflower into florets and place them on a baking sheet. The florets will crumble as you cut them and you’ll end up with various sizes, but this is of no importance.

Toss the cauliflower with just enough olive oil* to coat it lightly.

Sprinkle with salt, pepper and cumin—if using. Using both hands, carefully toss the cauliflower with the oil and seasonings. Place in the hot oven and roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Use a metal spatula to flip the cauliflower every 15 minutes or so to ensure that all sides get evenly browned.

Flour & Sun is at the market this week. So is Big Girl Bakery with her fantastic spiced nut mix, scrumptious granola, biscotti, her famous cheesecake (The NYTimes raves about it) and flourless chocolate torte.

Also fresh fish from the Hampton Bays—check out their blowfish tails! Saute them with garlic or flash cook them in a shallow fry. Unusual and unusually delicious! Also, True Food of Nyack has some new colder-weather items: a chicken pie with local winter roots and a crimini mushroom pie made with local Yukon golds and red onions.  Both have a wheat crust - but there will soon be a gluten-free option as well!

Plus, personal chef Maria Reina is doing another cooking demo, this time making Apple Tabbouleh in honor of the apple abundance at the market. If you haven’t seen her yet this season, make sure you catch her mid-morning, she’s a real dynamo. Her love for farm-to-table cooking really shines through—and her samples are always delicious.

Also, Saturday’s music will be gentle in honor of the holiday: classical guitarist Daniel Hallford will perform soul-soothing new and historical works on guitar.

Food writer and author Pascale Le Draoulec is Director of the Chappaqua Farmers Market.

 

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