Roasted Purple Cauliflower

With the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market over for the season, I made the pilgrimage downtown to the Saturday Market to stock up on SLO Farm apples. While there, I procured a spectacular purple cauliflower. It looked beautiful next to some darker purple onions, and reminded me of a roasted cauliflower recipe from my friends Tory and Lauri. You toss cauliflower florets and onion chunks with spices, olive oil, and vinegar and roast them in a hot oven. The recipe calls for curry powder, but for this magnificent cauliflower specimen I decided to simplify the flavors and colors, and just used cumin seeds and a sprinkle of smoked paprika.

These were roasted, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower was soft and has started to brown and the onions had caramelized. This makes a delicious accompaniment to the red lentils in the previous post (if you are lucky enough to have some leftovers).

Roasted Cauliflower

1 large head of cauliflower (preferably purple), chopped into florets

2 medium or 3 small red onions, peeled and chopped into eighths

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup olive oil

3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Toss the cauliflower florets and onion with the rest of the ingredients in a baking dish. Bake for about 3 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so, until the cauliflower starts to brown and the onions start to caramelize.