Nov 6th 09

Quick Prep Roasted Cauliflower with Ham

I probably eat ham three times a year, but when I do, I love the bold, smoky, salty flavor.  And roasting veggies is one of my favorite ways to serve them.  This recipe was just destined for creation! : ) 

This past Easter, I had a cinnamonny dessert of some sort rubbing up against the ham on my plate.  Upon tasting it, I discovered ham and cinnamon were an awesome flavor combination, and so I tried roasting cauliflower (let’s face it; it’s a fairly bland veggie) with ham and cinnamon.  The results were fantastic.

First, I preheated my oven to 400 degrees.  I then took a head of cauliflower and chopped it up into florets, and then into a roasting pan like this:

 In my oven, roasted vegetable perfection happens at 400 degrees F, so before breaking up the cauli, preheat the oven.   After putting it in the roasting pan, I diced up a low-sodium ham steak.  Before adding the ham to the cauliflower, I tossed enough olive oil in to lightly coat the veggies.  I took half a lemon, and squeezed that over the top too, to bring out the flavor combination.  I added the ham, mixed it up with my hands, then sprinkled on salt (not much, ham is pretty salty itself), pepper, and cinammon to taste.  Depending on your head of cauli, a pretty good rule of thumb is you want to see the spices you add on BEFORE roasting, so a pretty healthy amount of cinammon is in order. *  Seasoning before roasting is key, because that way the veg takes on the flavors desired during the roasting process. 

I then put the whole thing in the oven until the ham had darkened in color, and the tops of the cauliflower had browned up nicely like this:

Let it rest on the countertop for a couple of minutes, and then serve, and enjoy!! 

P.S…This is really good the second day around, too!

*I’ve used pumpkin pie spice, and curry with cumin, too.  The curry/cumin combination brings out the smokiness in the ham, and is a deep, savory alternative to this dish.  Delicious that way, too.

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3. Yellow Garlic Smashed Fauxtatoes
4. 12 Days of Christmas- The Comfort Food
5. Faux-tato Leek Soup