Dutch Oven Roasted Cauliflower and other veggies

My wife showed me this one in a picture online several months ago. It sure looked impressive, and tasty. She and I have been trying to lose weight with Weight Watchers in the last few months, so we’ve been doing a lot with veggies in general and cauliflower in particular.

Roasting it this way looked so delicious and fancy, I knew I was going to try it. It turns out that it’s also very, very easy.

In this case, I took the opportunity to do this bake/roast as a side to some grilled chicken and pineapple. The whole meal was amazing.

12” Shallow Dutch oven
12 coals below
18 coals above

2 medium cauliflower heads
Oil, preferably a spray oil, but drizzling olive oil is good, too.
Your choice of seasonings. I used:
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Garlic Powder
Parsley
Oregano
A touch of cayenne powder

3 medium onions
Optional veggies:
2-3 carrots
2-3 stalks of celery
Fresh green beans


I started, as usual, by lighting up the coals. While they were getting hot, I prepared the veggies. I started by cutting the stalks and leaves off of the cauliflower heads. Then I set them into the Dutch oven and sprayed them with the oil spray. This will help both with the color when it roasts, and it will help the seasonings stick.

Then, I sprinkled on the seasonings as I thought of them. You can really do as you like with them. I kinda kept to a savory/herbal kinda thing. The paprika helped it to come out with a really dark red coating. Cumin, cinnamon, and turmeric, or even ground cloves would have helped it to have a more “curry-ish” flavor. I may try that someday.

I cut the onions in half, then quartered each half and tossed those into the bottom of the Dutch oven around the cauliflowers. The other veggies got sliced and added in as well, with a light dusting of salt

Then I set it out on the coals, as I listed above and let it bake. It was pretty breezy, so I had to replenish the coals about every 15 minutes. While it cooked, I turned my attention to grilling the chicken and the pineapple.

The recipe research I had done said to cook the cauliflower for an hour and 15 minutes. I did that, but in the end, it turned out to be a bit overdone. I would probably go about 45 minutes next time. I might do it with fewer coals, and make it a slower roast.

When it was time to serve, I cut each cauliflower head into quarter wedges and served it with some of the veggies scooped up and placed next to the chicken and pineapple slices.It made for a delicious and colorful plate!

Here's a shot of the chicken, just for fun.

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.