Two great tastes: French onion soup meets roasted cauliflower in this gooey side dish

Caramelized onions seasoned with thyme on top of tender roasted cauliflower all under a layer of melted Gruyere cheese — do I have your attention?

I know I couldn’t stop thinking about this recipe for French Onion Roasted Cauliflower after seeing it online and found myself gathering the ingredients the next time I went to the grocery store. If I had to pick one new recipe that has been more popular than any other in my house over the last few months, this would be it.

I am a cauliflower fan. I like it raw, roasted, and have even grown to appreciate cauliflower rice as a substitute, but I know not everyone shares my fondness for this vegetable. If this is the case, I hope this recipe’s flavor combination might be enough to make you to love it as much as I do.

Do you like French onion soup? If you answered yes, then you are in luck. This dish starts with sliced onions that are cooked slowly and allowed to caramelize.

Onions contain a fair amount of natural sugar and cooking them slowly helps them brown without burning. If you’ve ever made homemade caramel, you have seen a similar reaction when heating sugar that eventually becomes amber colored as it rises in temperature. When cooking with sugar, the change between amber and burnt can happen quickly. Onions are no different, so be sure not to have your heat too high and stir frequently. Adding a little salt to your onions helps to bring out their natural moisture, another aid in caramelization.

For those of you who don’t care for cauliflower, I understand. I grew up on cauliflower that had been previously frozen and then either steamed or boiled. It was soggy and tasteless. I didn’t start calling myself a real fan until eating it raw, often accompanied by a dip of some kind. But it wasn’t until a few years ago that I found the most unusual partner for my raw cauliflower — salsa. I love dipping raw cauliflower in salsa, and if you haven’t tried it, add it to your list of things to do.

Roasting brings a whole new depth of flavor to vegetables and is one of my favorite ways to prepare almost any vegetable. Brussels sprouts have grown in popularity since they started being roasted, and cauliflower is no different.

Start with a head of raw cauliflower that has been cut into florets. The size is up to you, but the larger the piece the longer it will take to cook. For this recipe I prefer 1” to 2” pieces.

Place the cut pieces into a bowl and toss with a few tablespoons of olive oil or vegetable oil. (This is where you can get creative by adding other seasonings, like whole or sliced garlic, a little lemon juice or zest, and herbs. Ina Garten has a great recipe for roasted cauliflower that combines garlic and pine nuts; it is delicious.) Evenly distribute the cauliflower mixture on a baking sheet, sprinkle with Kosher salt and pepper, and pop it into a preheated 400 degree oven to roast. The amount of time will depend of the size of your pieces and your desired doneness. I like to stir mine every 10 minutes so it browns evenly.

Now imagine you already like French Onion soup, or caramelized onions, and roasted cauliflower has won you over. How about combining the two and topping it with gooey melted cheese? It is almost as good as chocolate and peanut butter!

I will admit, this recipe is a bit beige, not always my favorite food color. But once the cheese gets bubbly and browns a little bit, it morphs into a camera ready side dish worthy of serving to even the pickiest eater.

And for those who like to plan ahead, feel free to grate your cheese and cut up your cauliflower and onions a few days in advance; just keep them separated in sealed containers in your refrigerator until needed. You can even caramelize the onions and lightly roast the cauliflower the day before you will be serving, but don’t combine and cook the final dish until you need it — you don’t want everything to get too soft.

This will definitely be on my Thanksgiving table, and for my growing family I will be making a double or triple recipe. The thing I like least about cauliflower is cleaning up after cutting a head into florets, but for this recipe the extra effort is definitely worth it. Please let me know if it wins you over into being a cauliflower lover, too. Happy Thanksgiving!

• Penny Kazmier, a wife and mother of four from South Barrington, won the 2011 Daily Herald Cook of the Week Challenge. Contact Penny at DhCulinaryAdventures@gmail.com.

French Onion Roasted Cauliflower

2 tablespoons butter

5 medium or 3 large onions, sliced

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon thyme

8 cups fresh cauliflower florets, cut into large bite sized pieces, approximately 2 medium heads

1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil

Salt and Pepper

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 cup beef stock

½ cup grated Gruyere or Swiss cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Melt butter over medium heat in large skillet; add sliced onions and sprinkle with salt, stir to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened and caramelized, about 20-30 minutes. The bottom of the pan will start to get brown too; this is good. Add thyme and cook an additional 5 minutes.

Place cauliflower in a pile on large baking sheet with sides. Drizzle with oil and using hands, toss to coat. Spread cauliflower out into a single layer, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place in preheated oven. Cook 15 minutes. Stir and shake baking sheet to achieve a single layer again, then place in oven an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and reduce temperature to 350 degrees.

When onions are browned and softened, add Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and beef stock, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen all the brown bits. Cook over high heat, stirring, until liquid is reduced by half. Remove from heat.

Assemble: Place roasted cauliflower in ovenproof skillet or baking dish; don’t worry about having a single layer this time. Spoon onions over top and sprinkle with cheese.

Place in oven until warmed through and cheese is melted.

Serves 6 to 8.

– Penny Kazmier