The Beauty of Cauliflower

BaltimoreDIY's latest article for elephantjournal.com is up! Click on the link here.

It's all about the cauliflower these days.

They're seasonal at this time of year, and I forgot how absolutely delicious they are! For some reason I always overlooked cauliflower and never bought it by choice. But once I received several heads in my CSA shipment, cauliflower got a second chance with me.

I also have been looking for meals that can be prepared early in the week, or can even be eaten cold from the fridge on the nights when I don't have time to cook. I came up with the recipe below, which is a delicious pickle that can be added to stir-fry, bean salad, or pasta.

In the article I describe a wonderful lentil-cauliflower curry made with this pickle, and there is a photo album as well.

Cauliflower Pickle Recipe

1 head of cauliflower*
1 red onion
fennel seeds
yellow & black mustard seeds
1 cup apple cider vinegar

Slice the cauliflower into florets.

Add fennel and mustard seeds to a hot dry pot until the mustard seeds begin to pop, stirring occasionally to make sure the seeds don't stick and burn. I like a lot of seeds, about a tablespoon of each kind per head of cauliflower.

Add apple cider vinegar and sliced red onions to the pot.

Add the cauliflower florets (*optional: add other vegetables as well if you like. I added slices of carrots since they also came in the CSA delivery)

Feel free to thin the vinegar with a little water, maybe about half a cup or so. Taste to see how sour the liquid is, and add water to taste.

Cover the pot and simmer until cauliflower is tender, about 5 minutes or so.

Pack into a jar. Pour the liquid from the pot into the jar until the liquid covers the cauliflower. These pickles will keep in the fridge for about a week or two.

*Disclaimer: I am an experimenter in the kitchen! I usually choose my ingredient amounts to taste. These are rough estimates.

End Result!