Baked Vegetable Recipe: Oven-Roasted Cauliflower & Red Pepper Casserole

Cauliflower is an underestimated and underappreciated vegetable, an underdog, if you will. This is probably because a lot of times it’s lumped in with a mix of other vegetables and doesn’t really get a chance to wow people with it’s own unique flavor. Cauliflower is a fun ingredient because it can be utilized in diverse ways. You can boil it and then mash it up, you can steam it, and in this case, you can roast it and then bake it in a casserole. Garlic, onion and olive oil are the perfect elements to help add depth to our veggie, then the tomato and red pepper are added to really fill out the flavor. This is a really wonderful, healthy dish that everyone will like; if you didn’t love cauliflower before, you will now!

Cauliflower and Red Pepper Casserole

Serves 4

Ingredients 

• 1 1/2-2 pounds cauliflower, 2-inch florets
• 1 (16 oz.) can crushed tomatoes, drained
• 1/2 white onion, diced
• 2 red peppers, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400º F.
2. Arrange cauliflower florets, onions, peppers and garlic on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.
3. Bake for 20 minutes, or until almost tender.
4. Remove baking sheet from oven and transfer vegetables and drippings to a baking dish and cover with tomatoes, cheese and parsley. Add sugar, mix together, and season with salt and pepper.
5. Lower oven temperature to 350º F.
6. Return veggies and tomatoes to oven and bake for another 15-20 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Serve hot.