The French have a gift for turning humble inexpensive vegetables into silky luxurious purees. The Italians have a knack for taking the same kind of vegetable and bumping up the flavor with acid and sweetness, or garlic and chili flakes. Americans, on the other hand, with their fickle, fleeting, and puritanical eating habits, have figured out how to turn the Brassicaceae oleracea (cauliflower) into "rice," "steaks," and "pizza crust."
I hereby assure you that you will not find any recipes in this column for any of the bastardizations mentioned in the previous sentence.
Cauliflower, along with potatoes and cantaloupes, are among Long Island's most famous and successfully grown vegetables and fruits. There is even a Long Island Cauliflower Association, founded in 1901 in Riverhead. When the association was formed, they were trading in Dutch guilders to procure the finest cauliflower seeds from the Netherlands. At the time, cauliflower was packed in barrels with paper over each head and burlap over the barrel, then transported by truck or a special cauliflower train called the Scoot into New York City.
When crates were determined to be a more efficient method of transporting produce, the LICA distributed crate materials and nails to the farmers to build their own. The LICA grew to include all manner of seeds and equipment to help farmers and is now Long Island's oldest and last remaining full-service farm supply company.
Cauliflower, along with other cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, and kale is very nutritious, containing vitamins C, K, B6, and several minerals and antioxidants. It is best to steam, roast, or stir-fry cauliflower in order to preserve most of its vitamins. Just remember that it will shrink considerably when roasted, as it is 92 percent water.
One of my favorite recipes for cauliflower is Daniel Boulud's puree with apples, onions, and curry. He pairs it with roast pork, but I find it to be a perfect accompaniment to duck or chicken. Another delicious way of cooking it is agrodolce, or "sweet and sour" in Italian. After roasting the florets, add a few drops of mild vinegar or lemon juice along with some currants and toasted pine nuts. For a hearty one-dish meal, combine cauliflower that has been sauteed in olive oil, garlic, fennel seeds, and chili flakes with crumbled cooked hot sausage and orecchiette pasta. There are many Indian recipes with cauliflower such as aloo gobi, in which the cauliflower is cooked with potatoes, onions, and tomatoes with spices like cumin, ginger, turmeric, and coriander.
In some restaurants cauliflower is cooked in the style of Buffalo chicken wings, battered, fried, and drizzled with hot pepper sauce. I've also seen it cooked like General Tso's chicken, again battered and fried, then coated in a sticky sweet spicy glaze of rice vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin, ginger, chilies, and sesame oil.
You can make it rich by baking in a gratin with bechamel sauce and Gruyere cheese on top or simply roasted on a sheet pan with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese toward the end of cooking.
Cauliflower is such an agreeable, neutral vegetable that many other flavors can be added to a cauliflower dish: anchovies, Stilton cheese, parsley, hot peppers. It can be eaten raw with a dip or pickled in a giardiniera. I have even seen a recipe for "poor man's shrimp cocktail" in which the florets are cooked in crab/shrimp boil seasonings and served with cocktail sauce.
When buying cauliflower look for unblemished heads, although there's no harm in the little black spots -- just slice them off. Loosely wrapped, it will keep in the refrigerator for about a week but I have kept it for longer.
However you prepare it, enjoy this humble and healthy vegetable that is one of the stars of Long Island's soil. Here are some recipes to inspire you, from naughty to nice.
