Roasted Cauliflower, Garlic & Parmigiano Mash
Cook Time: ~15 Minutes
Developing a strong repertoire of ‘sides’ is vital in that it can add variety to the diet and they can accompany many different dishes. After learning one side recipe, you now have a potential partner for hundreds of dishes. Whatsmore, the sides that I intend to share, can also make for pleasant snacks in their own right. As a child, I feared the dreaded boiled cauliflower, so bland and watery. But with some roasting and a helping of Parmigiano and butter, this vegetable can become a rich and deeply satisfying mash. Whatsmore, the cauliflower tends to carry ~70% fewer carbs per 100g than a standard potato, and ~75% less than a sweet potato. In my opinion, it does this without sacrificing satisfaction.
I can’t stress enough how easy this side is to make. It takes two minutes to prepare, 15 minutes in the oven, and has a grand total of 5 household ingredients.
Information - What you require
Ingredients
• 1x Large Cauliflower
• 1x Whole garlic bulb
• Parmigiano Regiano (~70-100g)
• Butter (~40g)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Ground black pepper & salt
Optional Ingredients & Notes
Extra virgin oil: As a small tip when roasting vegetables; a generous drizzle of olive oil and some simple seasoning can bring out the best in a vegetable. You would be amazed at the flavours it can pull out of cauliflower, an aubergine, or a courgette. The higher the quality of the oil, the greater the impact.
Herbs: During the roasting process, a herb like thyme (a generous handful of sprigs) can be placed in with the cauliflower. Just be sure to remove it prior to blending.
Equipment
• Cheese grater
• Hand Blender (or food processor)
• Medium-sized bowl
• Oven
• Baking tray
Mise En Place - Food preparation
Take your cauliflower, remove the external leaves and the stump, and dice the white flesh into roughly equal consistency; it doesn’t have to be perfect. Grate your parmesan using the finest setting of the grater, to allow it to be more readily absorbed into the cauliflower later. Take your garlic bulb, and slice it directly in half, leaving the skin on. Slice yourself a nob of butter of ~40g.
Cooking Process
Take your baking tray and apply baking paper (greaseproof paper) to the bottom. Evenly distribute your diced cauliflower across the base of the tray, creating a surface layer of white flesh. Sprinkle over a dash of salt and a plentiful helping of ground black pepper. Next, drizzle a generous amount of extra virgin oil over the top of your cauliflower. Side to side, all the way up the tray, don’t be shy.
Following this, nestle your two garlic bulb halves amongst the cauliflower, and season them the same way you did the cauliflower (olive oil too). Add the baking tray to a preheated oven, set to 200°C (~400℉). You are going to leave the cauliflower in here, undisturbed for between 15-20 minutes, or until the contents of the tray have a golden brown colour.
Once browned, set aside your garlic bulbs and place the cauliflower into a bowl ready for blending. Those garlic cloves will now be soft and sweet; so much so that I am often guilty of popping out individual cloves and consuming them like treats. Depending on your love of garlic, add between 6-12 individual clove halves to your cauliflower (3-6 whole cloves). Whilst the cauliflower is still hot, add your 40g of butter, as well as your parmesan, leaving a sprinkle aside for garnish. Take the hand blender, and blitz the ingredients to create a mash-like consistency. The blending process may feel cumbersome for the first 20 seconds, but stick with it, the ingredients eventually form a mash. Once you have the texture, try the mash and season to taste. Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan and freshly ground black pepper.
If you do attempt this dish, please let me know how it goes, and if you variate the recipe in any way. Also, this newsletter relies upon word of mouth, so if you feel you know someone who would enjoy this publication please share it.
Thanks for reading,
Conor