Roasted Cauliflower With Sweet Potatoes and Onions

I am not a huge fan of TV, but after a busy day in the kitchen, sometimes I just need a bit of mindless entertainment. As does Tim.  Sadly, our idea of mindless entertainment is about as far apart as Mercury and Pluto.

If he gets the remote into his grubby little hands, he has on documentaries about A. the mob, or any kind of serial killer/mass murderer,  B. yachts and gazillion dollar homes,  C. mobsters living on yachts and in gazillion dollar homes, or D. Bigfoot (or other improbable beings). Not my cup of tea.

Embarrassingly,  my escape has been to get onto Netflix and watch every movie that involves two people A. falling in love after hating each other at first sight, B. falling in love, then hating each other,  C. hating falling in love and hating each other,   or D. loving each other, then hating each other, only to get back together and fall in love all over again.  Sometimes, the plot contains all four possibilities.  In other words, every movie I would have made fun of my SIL for watching for the last several years.

I don’t know why I am doing this, and I’m starting to think I may need an intervention and some professional help.

Our compromise has been endless episodes of Shark Tank, Cash Cab and Storage Wars.  If these are ever categories on Jeopardy, I would totally be the big winner.  Not to mention the fact that we now own several of the products we’ve seen on Shark Tank like vegan “pork rinds” (no idea what I was thinking with that one since I never, ever in my life even liked the idea of actual pork rinds), and a gift wrapping paper cutter (haven’t wrapped a gift since before March, but when this pandemic is over, I’m going to be a wrapping fool!).

I have come to the conclusion that if this lasts much longer, I am going to be the house all the kids avoid on Halloween because the “crazy old lady who talks to herself lives there”. And I am going to know more about mobsters falling in love with people they hate, buying them gazillion dollar yachts and eating vegan pork rinds than I ever wanted to.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium head of cauliflower
• 3 sweet potatoes
• 2 white onions
• 1 red onion
• 3 Tablespoons (vegan) butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 heads of garlic, roasted
• 4 Tablespoons (vegan) butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 3 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 2 cups of water or vegetable broth, or combination of both.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Prepare a roasting pan by pouring the 1 cup of water or vegetable broth in the bottom of the pan.  Place a baking rack or broiler pan on top of the pan (make sure it is large enough that it won’t sink down into the water in the bottom.
2. Cut the leaves off of the cauliflower, but do not cut out the core.  You want the head to remain intact.  In a blender, combine the roasted garlic (do ahead — cut the tops off the heads, drizzle with olive oil and wrap in foil.  Put in 400 oven for 30-40 minutes or till soft when gently squeezed.  Remove from oven and allow to cool, then gently squeeze the cloves out.), with the 4 TBS butter, 1/2 tsp. salt, paprika, nutritional yeast and 1/4 cup vegetable broth.  Puree till smooth and creamy.
3. Turn the head of cauliflower upside down and drizzle a quarter of the garlic sauce into the center of the cauliflower, so that it drips into the center pieces.  Allow to sit for a few minutes.  Flip the head over and place on the pan or rack and cover the head with the remaining garlic sauce.
4. Meanwhile, (I do this while the garlic is roasting to save time), peel the potatoes and onions  and cut them into rough chunks (about 2 inches).  Toss them with the 3 TBS melted butter, thyme and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Place them on the roasting pan around the cauliflower head.
5. Place the pan in the oven and roast for 40-50 minutes till the cauliflower and veggies are soft but not mushy.
6. To serve, put the cauliflower on a plate, surrounded by the veggies.  If you’d like, you can make a “gravy” out of the broth and drippings in the bottom pan to drizzle over the top.

“Gravy”

1. Pour the broth and drippings from the bottom pan into a small pot on the stove over medium high heat.  In a small bowl, combine 1 Tablespoon arrowroot or cornstarch with 2 Tablespoons cold water and stir to combine.  Add to the pot and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring till it begins to thicken.  You can add some more spices to give it flavor.  I like to add 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder and some salt and pepper.

Enjoy!