Spicy Honey Roasted Cauliflower

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup whole grain mustard
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup chopped fresh herbs
2 garlic cloves, minced
generous 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 -1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 whole heads cauliflower, trimmed and cleaned
Coarsely chopped fresh herbs

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the honey, mustard, butter, herbs, garlic, pepper, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Use a long slim pairing knife to pierce the heart of each cauliflower stem. Place each head, stem side down, in a deep baking dish large enough to hold both heads. Add about 1/4-inch of hot water to the dish. Cover with foil. Bake 10 to 12 minutes (water will begin to steam). Remove foil. Carefully pour off water.
3. Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees and return cauliflower to the oven. Bake for 5 minutes to dry the heads. Remove from oven and coat well with the honey mixture (using a pastry brush makes this job easy). Return to oven. Roast 12 to 15 minutes or until the cauliflower heads are well browned. If desired, garnish with additional chopped fresh herbs.

*** Cauliflower is no shlub in the nutrition department. High in fiber, folate, and vitamin C, this vegetable is known to kick carcinogens to the curb (mostly by supporting liver function).
**Much like a human, a cauliflower can get fried or pickled. Then again, you can just eat these veggies raw, steamed, boiled, or (my favorite) roasted. Also like people, cauliflower comes in many colors and shapes. Orange cauliflower contains more Vitamin A than the white variety, while purple cauliflower contains the antioxidant group anthocyanin, which is also found in red wine. Green varieties are sometimes called brooccoflower (how clever) and the spiky green guys (more accurately called Romanesco) are examples of fractals, self repeating patterns, in nature.





*Because of it’s color and mouth feel, cauliflower is used to produce a potato substitute known as fauxtato – that’s quite a chuckle for me but perhaps not so funny for the low-carb dieter. I prefer that my cauliflower taste like cauliflower, thank you very much.
Recipe by Cristina Paul