sauteed cauliflower with caramelized shallots and turmeric

I love vegetables. Love. Love. Love. 

I wish my family embraced them like I do. I think I'll keep serving them dishes like the one featured in this post, or this one here, or here, or here, and maybe they'll soon fall madly in love like me. It's worth a shot, right!?

It wasn't until I discovered roasting and sauteing . . . that vegetables went from ordinary (and eating them for 'good nutrition' value only) to extraordinary (eating them because they're delicious, with the 'good nutrition' factor being an after thought).   

Let's talk cauliflower . . .

Cauliflower is a blank canvas just waiting to be introduced to flavors that it can marry, so I thought I would experiment with it . . . and came up with a simple and delicious dish adding shallots, turmeric, and fresh herbs.

Turmeric is known to be spicy (like ginger, spicy), so I added shallots to this recipe to balance the flavors. The two create a nice balance of spicy (turmeric) and sweet (caramelized shallots) . . . and the fresh herbs brighten the whole dish.  The cauliflower shows to be the perfect base for this pairing, as it turns a bright yellow as the turmeric heats in the pan.

This "side" dish can stand alone, or be served alongside a meat, like chicken. I think it would even taste wonderful tossed with whole wheat couscous.

Anyway you serve it . . . I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower, sliced 

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2-3 shallots, finely chopped

Kosher salt

freshly cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

2 Tablespoons fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped

If you have this Olive Oil, then I highly recommend using it.
It gives this dish a mild garlic flavor. Yum!
If you don't have this olive oil, and like garlic, then add 1 minced garlic clove 
in the last 2 minutes of sauteing this dish.

Preparation

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

Blanch the cauliflower in salted boiling water until crisp but tender, 2 to 3 minutes. 

The salt will impart flavor as well as help keep the cauliflower crisp. Immediately drain and run cold water over the cauliflower or plunge into an ice bath to cool and stop the cooking process, then remove and gently dry.

Place a large saute pan over medium heat and melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the shallots, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until starting to brown, stirring occasionally, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the drained cauliflower with the shallots and add salt and pepper to taste. 

Sprinkle turmeric over the cauliflower, gently stir to coat.
The cauliflower will turn a stunning bright yellow as you heat the turmeric.

Cook to heat the cauliflower completely through, 2 to 3 minutes, or until cauliflower florets have slightly caramelized.

Remove from the heat and season with additional salt and pepper, if needed. 

Toss with the chopped fresh Italian flat leaf parsley and transfer to a serving dish.

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