Have you ever made a dish that seemed to have magical properties? Here’s one I’ve experienced.

Over the years, I’ve turned into a cauliflower junkie. I love it pureed in soups, gratins, cooked in various Italian dishes, heavily spiced in Indian dishes and even fresh, broken up into tiny florets for salads.

One day a few years ago, I found a simple preparation method on eGullet, the very popular food site & user forum. They advocated simply breaking the fresh cauliflower up and broiling it with a little drizzling of olive oil, salt and pepper.

I was hooked. The broiling/roasting brought out the sweetness of the vegetable, retaining some of the texture while softening it for easy eating. Made like this, it makes a nice (low carb!) replacement to traditional starches like mashed potatoes or rice.

But here’s the magical part. One day, I decided to eat my broiled cauliflower with a homemade tomato/marinara sauce. It was very delicious.

The next morning I woke up with the most dewy, rosy, smooth, perfect complexion I can ever remember having. I just couldn’t stop looking at myself in the mirror that morning. I felt very vain and full of myself.

I thought about what could have contributed to such a remarkable change. The only thing that came to mind was that cauliflower and tomato dish I had the night before.

Alas, the effect did not last long. The following morning I was back to being my own freckley self.

I’ve never gone back and tried that magical combination though I’ve had roasted cauliflower several times since. But I don’t think I’ll every forget that amazing morning transformation I still attribute to the magical dish of white & red.

Posted on Tuesday, March 1st, 2005 at 9:26 pm . Filed under Musings, Recipes.
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