Why Ina Garten Thinks One Vegetable Is Totally Underrated

Nutritionists, dieticians, and doctors have historically loved to tell their patients and clients to "eat their colors," meaning, lots of good nutrition lies in bright, colorful fruits and vegetables. While true, this kind of leaves white fruits and veggies on the sidelines. Leave it to Ina Garten to bring something like white cauliflower back into the spotlight, a veggie she thinks is completely underrated. She has transformed the oft-forgotten cruciferous vegetable into several delicious dishes during her culinary career.

Garten often roasts cauliflower, as she believes this cooking method brings out its natural sweetness. In an Instagram post, she said, "It [cauliflower] browns beautifully when roasted, [and] it makes soups creamy without adding cream." In the same post, the Barefoot Contessa shared that her recipe for open-faced cauliflower toast was creamy and crunchy, and that everyone goes crazy for it. Indeed, the recipe calls for toasted bread that is topped with a mixture of roasted cauliflower, lots of cheeses, and prosciutto. Everything gets heated under the broiler until browned and bubbly.

Garten's affinity for cauliflower goes beyond this popular dish, however. On her website and throughout several of her cookbooks, she shares recipes for such dishes as cauliflower gratin, baked shells and cauliflower, celery root and cauliflower puree, and roasted cauliflower with lemon and capers.

The first time I roasted cauliflower, I remember wondering why I hadn't done so much earlier in my life. Like Ina Garten said, the vegetable came out of the oven perfectly browned and caramelized, with a pleasant sweetness that made me eat the entire pan of veggies by myself. The recipe I used involved tossing cauliflower florets with olive oil, salt, chopped garlic, ground cumin and ground coriander. When it came out of the oven, I sprinkled on a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, chopped tomatoes, and chopped cilantro (which is one ingredient you'd never find in Garten's kitchen). Sure enough, when I made the recipe again for my husband, I had to fight to keep him from eating the whole dish himself.

Although it may still be slightly underrated, cauliflower is increasingly entering the radars of home cooks and restaurants, undoubtedly thanks to Garten and other celebrity cooks and chefs who are highlighting the veggie platter staple. Cauliflower pizza crust is broadly recognized and now often seen in pizzerias (I swear, it miraculously tastes just like regular pizza crust). More and more people are making cauliflower rice at home (or picking it up in the freezer section of the grocery store), and I've seen the white veggie used to make things like tacos, "steaks," kung pao entrees, even cauliflower parmesan (where it's a dupe for chicken and pairs well with farro salad, Garten's favorite side dish).