Chili Roasted Cauliflower Recipe

Vegetables often get short shrift at mealtime. If you’re like me, you probably focus more on the main course—the pasta sauce, the soup, the chili—and sort of expect vegetables to, you know, happen.

And in summer they do: In July and August I could—and do—greedily gorge on plates of salted tomatoes, slices of Kirby cucumbers splashed with sesame oil and pans of sautéed baby zucchini.

Winter’s a little tougher, isn’t? Especially if you’re trying to do the seasonal, local thing. I love Jean-Georges Vongerichten farm-to-table, vegetable alchemy. But seriously. That divine roast carrot salad takes beaucoup prep time. It’s weekend food.

On weeknights it’s easy to fall into eating veggie-less dinners. You know, a bowl of bucatini and a slice of bread. Period.

But those vegetable-free dinners have been happening less at Copywriters’ Kitchen since I discovered my oven. Or rather, discovered the oven’s use beyond casserole, cookie and bread baking. Well kept secret: Your oven is perfect for roasting vegetables.

Oven roasting intensifies vegetable’s flavor.

Roasting gives you an easy, almost hands-free way to make vegetables a part of everyday dinners. Because dinner prep is only part of your 5-7PM daily routine. While you’re chopping, sautéeing and stirring, you’re also polishing edits on a copy project, hollering vocab definitions to your teen son, Googling for leather dog collars and grabbing the collar-less boxer puppy before he wees on the foyer rug.

Easy is important. Easy is crucial. But easy is not everything. Let’s face it, nuking a bag of frozen peas is easy. You also want vegetables that taste delicious.

And that’s where roasting wins brownie points. Roasted vegetables are incredibly delicious. My gastronomic theory is that the oven-roasting evaporates the vegetables’ moisture, concentrating and intensifying their fullest flavor. Though you use very little oil, the vegetables develop a rich, unctuous taste.

Try roasting vegetables with a little oil, salt, pepper and your favorite fresh or dried herbs, as I did with Easy Oven-Roasted Herb Cauliflower.

Or toss them with oil and chili powder as I do with Chili Roasted Cauliflower, below. For complex, fiery flavor, I recommend you try this dish with my Homemade Chili Powder.

Chili Roasted Cauliflower makes a great appetizer, as well as a side dish.

Chili Roasted Cauliflower Recipe

One head of cauliflower
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons Homemade Chili Powder or store-bought chili powder
Kosher salt to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Wash and cut cauliflower into florets.
3. Place cauliflower in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and toss to coat cauliflower with oil and chili powder.
4. Spoon cauliflower onto a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan in a single layer, arranging florets together in center of pan—stray florets tend to burn.
5. Slide cookie sheet into oven and bake for twenty minutes.
6. Remove sheet from oven and, using a spatula, turn cauliflower so it will brown evenly.
7. Return cookie sheet to oven and bake for another 10-20 minutes, until slightly dehydrated and golden.
8. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 4.