vegan mofo :: 50 shades of ... cauliflower?

Orange cauliflower – better than cheddar!

...With apologies to Snarky Vegan [whose Mofo theme is 50 Shades of Kale].

Some girls are dazzled by diamonds and fancy cars. I wear funky jewelry, drive a Subaru, and am swept off my feet by gorgeous produce. So I hope you'll forgive me for posting another cauliflower recipe during Vegan Mofo, but when I saw this cheddar-orange cauliflower winking at me in the produce aisle, I just had to have it.

Turns out this cauliflower is not just a pretty face. It contains 25% more vitamin A than the white stuff. The nuclear orange is not the result of cross-breeding, either; it comes from a mutant Canadian cauliflower. And forgive me again: I am guilty of hyperbole. As far as I know, there are only 4 shades of cauliflower: white, orange, purple, and green, aka Romanesco.

My casserole-style side, fresh from the oven 

I wanted to make something that would keep the color relatively intact, so I decided to make an easy gratin-style baked cauliflower. But I am drying to make my Creamy Cauliflower Soup with orange and even purple cauliflower. 

I'll announce the winner of the Vega/cookbook contest winner tomorrow or Wednesday – there's still time to enter! In the meantime,  Global Looking Glass magazine, a great, FREE up-and-coming animal rights magazine, interviewed me for their second issue. Check it out here. Enjoy the mid-MoFo recipe.

Easy Baked Cauliflower with Tomato

Teenage Mutant Ninja Cauliflower! 

• 1 head of cauliflower, trimmed into florets
• 2 roma tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 cup non-dairy milk
• Salt [Depends on the size of the cauliflower]
• Fresh ground pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast ["Nooch"]
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs [I used panko]
• 1/4 cup dry white wine [If you omit, increase milk to 1 cup]

Makes about 4-6 servings

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Steam the cauliflower until it's tender, about 5 minutes. Drain.

In the same pan you steamed the cauliflower in [unless you actually want to dirty another dish], mix the tomatoes, onion, garlic, milk, wine and salt. I find this dish needs a lot of salt, but please adjust the levels to your own preference.

Dump the steamed cauliflower into a gratin dish or casserole. Pour the tomato-milk mixture over top. Sprinkle with nooch and bread crumbs, then douse with the wine.

Bake for 30 minutes to an hour, or until soft. Time will depend on the amount of cauliflower, the size of your florets and whether you use a shallow gratin pan or a casserole. I used a monster cauliflower, large florets and a casserole, so mine took the full hour.