Tonight I watched an episode of Good Eats on cauliflower. While none of the recipes jumped out at me, the topic did remind me of a recipe I learned from my Italian host father, Fausto. It’s one of those Italian dishes that is so stupid simple that unless you actually ate it, you wouldn’t bother trying to make it. Well trust me, you should try this. And why wouldn’t you? It’s cheap and easy.
Take a chopped up head of cauliflower and steam it in a large pot with a few inches of water. While it’s steaming, take old crusty stale bread and toast it. Peel one clover of garlic for every piece of toast you prepare.
With the cauliflower steamed, place a piece of the toasted bread (aka toast) into a wide bowl. Then grab a clove of garlic and rub it into the toasted bread. It should rub into the bread as easily as butter. Now place a heaping pile of cauliflower on top and then pour some of the cauliflower water onto the whole mess so that the bread gets a little soggy. Finally, top it with the best olive oil money can buy and a little kosher salt. Bob’s your uncle.
Tags: cauliflower, italy
