Recipe - Roasted Whole Cauliflower With Garlic And Mustard Seeds

1 lg Cauliflower, about 2One half to
3 pounds
3 tablespoon Extravirgin olive oil
2 teaspoon Minced garlic
1 teaspoon Mustard seed
Fresh cracked black pepper
One half teaspoon Salt, or less
Kale leaves, for serving
1 tablespoon Chopped parsley, or chopped
chives
8 Lemon wedges

Leave the stalk on the head of cauliflower but trim away the leaves; trim
away woody stem, making sure florets stay intact. Rinse cauliflower; let
drain; blot dry with paper towels.

Next, use foil to make a 'stand and bib' for the cauliflower: Cut off
enough foil to make a square sheet; use a baking sheet or shall pan and put
the foil on it; place cauliflower in center and crimp foil to hug base of
cauliflower.

Combine oil and garlic. Gently warm on stove top or in microwave oven until
fragrant, but garlic should not brown. Strain oil through fine sieve,
pressing on garlic to get all oil. Discard garlic. Stir mustard seeds and
cracked pepper (as much as you like) in oil. (We did not strain; we like
garlic and left it in the oil.)

Set oven to 375F degrees.

Paint the head of the cauliflower: spoon warm oil mixture as evenly as
possible, or use a brush. Sprinkle evenly with salt to taste. Place in the
oven, uncovered, and bake until just tender (test center core with tip of
sharp paring knife), about 1 One half hours. (It will brown nicely; if it looks
dry, that's okay.)

Can be made 1 day ahead, cooled and refrigerated, wrapped airtight. Let
come to room temperature before using. Place in microwaveable dish. Reheat
in microwave oven on high power [100%] until hot, 4 to 6 minutes.)

To serve, place head in center of round platter layered with kale leaves.
Sprinkle with parsley. Serve hot in pieshaped wedges, garnished with lemon
wedges.

Generally makes 6 servings. Each serving contains about: 75 calories; 165
mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 5 grams fat; 6 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams
protein; 1.01 grams fiber. A Special Dinner Vegetable Idea from: Abby
Mandel / "I'll Bring the Veggies" in LA Times' Good Cooking Section (22 Dec
96). "The whole cauliflower makes a spectacular presentation and serves up
nicely in wedges." This was given to me by a friend; and now I'm passing it
along. We made a halfrecipe; served it with a Chicken Breast Fillet with
an OrangeThai Sauce; and those dark (artifically) green petite beans.

Recipe by: Abby Mandel (special to the LA Times) 1996

Posted to MCRecipe Digest V1 #389 by PATh phannema@wizard.ucr.edu on Jan
25, 1997.