There are people who say they simply LIKE how healthy things taste and there’s honestly NOTHING they’d rather eat than kale and quinoa. I am not one of those people. I would happily eat bacon and Pavlovas every day, if it wasn’t bad for me. So when I started meditating (I use this term loosely) on my eating philosophy (I use this term even more loosely), I was looking for something that would allow me to have my Pavlova and eat it, too. Kind of.

So I decided on two rules: 1) I will not eat things I don’t like, but 2) I will make a conscious effort to find healthy things I like and if I don’t, learn to prepare them in a way that makes me like them. I can report remarkable progress, especially with The Humble Vegetable Project. And one of the stars of said project is my signature cauliflower recipe.

Now, I understand that calling it an obsession may be a step too far, but there was one week where I made this dish three times, so there you go. And one of the reasons I’m sharing the recipe here is that it was requested by a friend who came to lunch a couple of weeks ago. So there’s at least one documented case of the magic of this recipe working on another person.

Anyway, here we go. You will need:
– one cauliflower
– one generous tablespoon of butter
– 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced*
– a handful of tarragon, chopped (you can use dried or substitute oregano or thyme)
– half a teaspoon of salt

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees. Take a large saucepan, fill half-way with water and bring to the boil. Break the cauliflower into little florets that are comfortable to eat and boil for 3 minutes, until almost tender. Drain, steam dry and transfer to a shallow baking sheet. Add butter, tarragon, salt and garlic and mix well. As the cauliflower is hot, the butter will melt and make this process very easy. Roast everything in the oven for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

I’m completely happy having this with my bacon.

*You know what I usually do? I use the pre-minced garlic in these little jars or tubes. Yeah, I know, I’m lazy. If you are, too, remember to use a bit more than the recipe indicates, as the prepepared variety is not as strong as the fresh. If you don’t like garlic, just skip it, the recipe works beautifully regardless.