Michelle's Popcorn Cauliflower

When I was on Facebook recently, I saw the most lovely looking cauliflower dish made by Michelle Frank. Michelle is like me. She loves to cook. She loves to share her recipes with others. And more than anything, she loves really good healthy food. She’s a marathon runner and a busy working mom of two young girls. If she can make the time to cook wonderful meals for her family, than no one has any excuses. Well, I don’t mean to sound like such a hard a$$, but, you get my drift.

Now, the photo of her popcorn cauliflower dish was what drew me in. Cauliflower is wonderful for you but can be oh so boring. This didn’t look boring at all. In fact it looked just darn right delicious. The shocker was that it WAS absolutely delicious. I have never seen my husband get so excited about cauliflower and even go back for a second helping. He said, “This is a keeper!”  and “I can’t believe I’m going back for seconds of cauliflower!”. 

And, I do want to mention how easy it is to prepare this side dish. It takes two seconds to mix a few spices together, cut up some cauliflower, mix it together and toss it in the oven. Fast, delicious, healthy....what more could you want?

1 head cauliflower, cut head into medium sized florets, discard stems;

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

4 tablespoons olive oil

1. Preheat Oven to 450

2. Line a jelly roll pan or baking sheet with parchment paper (DO NOT try to just spray aluminum foil with Pam or the like). 

3. In a large bowl, combine all of the above ingredients except the cauliflower and shake vigorously until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cauliflower florets to evenly coat.

3. Place in a single layer on the prepared sheet.

4. Roast uncovered for 30 to 35 minutes, until the largest pieces can be pierced with a fork.

Michelle’s notes: I roast this for a lot longer than 30 to 35 minutes because we like it really browned. You can see the difference between the picture in the recipe book in the picture and what mine looks like when it's roasted for a longer period of time. I also set a timer for 20 minutes when it first goes in, and then I move it around every so often so that it roasts (eh, burns) evenly. 

Also, as a major side note, don't ever make just one serving at a time. If you only make 1 head there will not be any left by the time your family is ready to sit down and eat because you will have eaten all yourself to the point of scraping every last burned morsel off the tray.

If you have Pampered Chef Stoneware, this does wonderfully on a very seasoned tray, but if not DO NOT forget the parchment paper!

Michelle and her family after finishing the Atlanta Marathon 2011