side dish twist: roasted pepitas and cauliflower
Roasting vegetables is one of my favorite ways to include vegetables on our daily table. Usually, I mindlessly toss broccoli, carrots or halved brussel sprouts with olive oil and generous grinds of coarse pepper and salt. This time, I was flirting around with pepper and sugar in my current kitchen foray into Mexican Food... many of the dishes I was eyeballing also called for pumpkin seeds.
It is fun to see what 'happens' in your kitchen when you are experimenting. This last time I was tossing cauliflower with the requisite olive oil, I tossed in some pepitas/pumpkin seeds and punched up the volume on the seasoning. It worked---and now I take an extra pause when vegetable-tossing, to consider what 'else' I might add to the tray.
Besides, this gives this vegetable side dish a bit of a fall twist:
3 T Olive oil 1 T brown sugar (white works too, then I add a little less) 1-2 tsp kosher/coarse salt 1/2 tsp coarse ground pepper (this one optional) 1 T finely minced rosemary good pinch of cayenne or chili powder
How much of this 'rub' or 'oil' you make depends on how much cauliflower you cut up (how many mouths you are feeding). The goal is to just coat the cauliflower and pepitas; you don't want things dry or undressed---and you don't want to drown the vegetables either. Got it? Go for it!
