This pic has nothing to do with this blog entry. I just wanted to share these b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l gladiolus that Little T and Hubby picked for me from a field last Saturday. They made me smile every day this week.

I used to think cauliflower was the most boring vegetable in the world. It was rarely one of my picks on a veggie platter, next to broccoli which was equally as boring to eat. I’m guessing that’s why veggie dips were invented.

When hubby does his weekly farmers market shopping, he often comes home with selections “just because they looked good”. That’s how I found a cauliflower in my crisper one Monday morning, after hubby had left for a week of business travel.

“What am I supposed to do with that?” I asked him on the phone.

“But it looks so good!” he answered.

So, left on my own with a head of boring cauliflower, I decided to search out a recipe to make use out of it. Using epicurious.com, my go-to-it online recipe source for inspiration, I came across a Cauliflower Soup With Toasted Cumin and Lime recipe that I have since made countless times. It is super easy, and pureeing the cauliflower turns it into a silky work of art, reminding me of white asparagus soup.

But then I came across The Best Cauliflower Ever recipe.

Really dear friends of mine have bought two cookbooks for me written by David Rocco, born in Toronto, Canada to an Italian family. His recipes are simple yet amazing. And you can read his cookbooks like a novel you can’t put down as you are transported into the alluring lifestyle of Italians. Sì. It’s true.

One of David’s recipes in his “Made in Italy” cookbook is actually called The Best Cauliflower Ever recipe which you can find here. I had to giggle when I first read it, as he refers to cauliflower as being an old auntie’s dish. But this recipe, which is super-easy to make, takes cauliflower to a whole new level after it has bubbled away in onions, tomato puree, and parsley. At the end you add pieces of parmesan (or whatever hard cheese you have in the fridge) along with freshly grated parmesan which turns the cauliflower, already softened and flavourful, into a gooey superstar. Trust me.

You can enjoy this dish on its own as a meal, or serve as a side with a nice piece of meat. You won’t need potatoes, as the cauliflower is transformed into a substance just as filling as a potato. Even Little T finished his bowl tonight after first proclaiming that he HATES cauliflower.

And for the record, I’m an old auntie. But my cauliflower dish rocks.