Roasted romanesco cauliflower with pistachios and feta

This is seriously the easiest 30 minute meal ever. And pretty darn delicious, if I say so myself.

At Sunday's East Side farmer's market, this pretty little thing caught my eye, accompanied by a sign reading "End of Season Cauliflower:"

It's romanesco cauliflower, which is many cool things. It's an edible flower. It's also a fractal! The latent math nerd in me is excited. Each of its buds is composed of smaller buds, all arranged in logarithmic spirals. (Here is a delightfully nerdy article about it from Fourmi Lab.) It's also rich in Vitamin C, which I certainly need at the moment.

As I cook this meal, I'm getting over my once-a-year bug. Tonight is the first time I've wanted real food (i.e. food other than ice cream and pizza ... apparently when I'm sick I turn into a seven-year-old at a slumber party). And while I'm well enough to cook, I'm not well enough for the grocery store. So this is what I've come up with:

Roasted Romanesco Cauliflower with Pistachios and Feta (serves 2)

1 1/2 lbs romanesco cauliflower (although regular would work just fine)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sea salt
red pepper to taste
toasted pine nuts to taste (I like a lot)
a couple squeezes of fresh lemon juice
chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup feta cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. While the oven is heating, chop the cauliflower. Romanesco seems built around a core, so for me this was more like coring an apple than chopping a regular head of cauliflower.

Toss the cauliflower with the garlic, olive oil, and salt in an 8x8 baking dish. Roast for 30 minutes.

Once the cauliflower is done, toss it with the remaining ingredients. I served it over whole wheat pasta.
Roasting brings out a deliciously sweet, nutty flavor in the cauliflower, the full extent of which was probably lost to me, given my sniffles.

Cauliflowers of the rainbow

In the midst of all the madness and fun that is SXSW, I didn't make it to my usual Saturday morning farmer's market. (I was sleeping off the previous night's Antlers show.) On Sunday, when most music stuff had died down, we went to the HOPE farmer's market in East Austin. This market is a little different than the downtown market. For starters, it's a little later in the day-- 11 to 3 p.m., for all you late risers, but significantly smaller. Also, it has more in the way of crafts, which is neither here nor there for me, as I usually just go to the market for foodstuffs. We did get some beautiful handmade chocolate-- look for it in future desserts!(Photo note: this pic wasn't taken in hell. I'm just getting the hang of Photoshop Elements...)

We also got purple cauliflower! I was first introduced to this antioxidant-rich heirloom variety in a quiche that Jesse made for brunch a few weeks back. I loved the pop of color it gave to the dish! Colored cauliflowers (they also come in green and orange, with different respective nutritional benefits) are created by selective breeding. In my (extensive, I assure you) research on colored cauliflowers, I learned that while this may seem like a marketing ploy to attract kids (anyone remember blue ketchup?) it's not the first time plant breeders have used selective breeding to modify a veggie's appearance: until the 17th century, carrots were mostly purple, white or yellow, but Dutch breeders engineered the orange color to honor the royal family!

I was really craving a savory tart of some sort, and found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen (one of my favorite food blogs around.) Looks yummy, but it's got, what, 2 1/2 cups of cheese? A little much for two fairly health-conscious people on a Sunday night. I used sour cream instead of the mascarpone, and eliminated the Gruyere and Parmesan in favor of some thin Swiss slices and blue cheese crumbles on top and lots of fresh rosemary. Lots of flavor over lots of quantity. Success!