Browned and braised in a provencal-inspired tomato sauce, this cauliflower dish is an easy vegetarian choice (vegan if you omit the anchovies) with savory “cooked-all-day” crockpot flavor. But there is no crockpot.   No meat and no crockpot. Just a vegetable dish with flavors so layered it’s hard to believe no animal was sacrificed or dial was set.

I think that most recipes featuring cauliflower come in wonderful wrappings, like toasted breadcrumbs or curry sauces, but inside you still find the vegetal taste of cauliflower, either too raw or too cooked, always white.  

In this recipe the whole head of cauliflower braises in this heady tomato sauce that begins with garlic, anchovies, and rosemary, and ends in red pepper flakes.  Those flavors penetrate the vegetable, leaving it rosy, tender, and saturated with flavor. Serve chunks of it in a bowl with ladles of sauce and crusty bread, and marvel at just how satisfying and easy a vegetarian meal can be.  No meat. No crock pot.

Cauliflower Cooked Like Meat, adapted from April Bloomfield

Serves 4 generously for a light meal, 6 for a sidedish

Ingredients

1 medium - large size cauliflower

¼ cup good quality olive oil, plus more for finishing

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

3 - 4 (good quality, they are less salty) anchovies packed in oil, about 1 tablespoon loosely chopped

1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary leaves

1 can (28 ounces) plum tomatoes with juice, tomatoes roughly broken up

½ cup dry white wine

Healthy pinch of dried red pepper flakes

1 teaspoons Maldon or flaky sea salt (or ½ teaspoons table salt)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Insert a paring knife into the cauliflower alongside the core.  Circle around the core with the knife to remove that woody base like a plug.  The goal is to have the whole cauliflower head intact, minus the core. (Some of the florets fell off when I did this, but I simply browned them separately - as below - and proceeded including them in the pot as it all cooked.)

3. In a stock pot large enough to hold the whole head of cauliflower, add the olive oil, and heat to medium high.  Add the cauliflower, and proceed to brown it, turning it regularly, for 12 - 15 minutes. You want a good browning on almost all the sides.

4. Lower the heat to medium, and add the garlic, anchovies, and rosemary.  Stir them in the oil around the cauliflower for about 2 minutes, or until the garlic just begins to turn golden.  

5.  Add the tomatoes, white wine, red pepper flakes, and salt.  Bring all to a simmer. Stir things around a bit, spooning the tomato solids over the cauliflower a bit.  Cook for about 5 minutes this way.

6.  Cover the pot, and put it into the preheated oven.  Roast for 30 - 40 minutes.

7. Remove the cauliflower to a platter, and pour the sauce over all.  The cauliflower should be so tender you can serve it with a spoon, adding sauce on top.  This is delicious over rice, or as a light meal with crusty bread, or as a very flavorful side dish for a more simply seasoned protein - fish, chicken or meat.