Cauliflower

Ina Garten’s Cauliflower Reign Continues With This Extra-Cheesy Toast

From her forthcoming book ‘Cook Like a Pro.’

October  3, 2018

If you’re like us, then your wild weekend involved booking it to the grocery store, buying all the cauliflower, then trying out Ina Garten’s latest hack.

The only problem is: Now that we've cut all this cauliflower, what are we going to do with it? Ina has an idea. We snagged a sneak peek from her forthcoming book, Cook Like a Pro: Recipes and Tips for Home Cooks and scored the cheesiest, dreamiest cauliflower melts to welcome fall. Here’s how to do it:

Cut cauliflower into florets—you know, the right way. Toss on a sheet pan with olive oil, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes (double the pepper, double the fun). Roast until “tender and randomly browned” (if you start to see “randomly browned” appearing in any/all of my recipes, you know who to thank).


More Cauliflower Magic

Now the fun part: Toss the roasted cauliflower with creamy mascarpone, grated Gruyère, and sliced prosciutto. Pile that on toasted rustic bread and broil until bubbly and browned. Just before serving, sprinkle on more cheese, plus minced chives and flaky salt.

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Sundays at my home are also known as The Day When All Vegetables Shall Be Roasted for the Week Ahead. Which makes a recipe like this the perfect weeknight dinner. Roast a bunch of cauliflower (or, heck, broccoli or squash or whatever) over the week, keep in the fridge, then make cheesy toasts on a moment’s notice.

What’s your favorite Ina recipe? Tell us in the comments. (We know, we know, it’s hard to pick—you can mention more than one!)

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • HappyHoneyBee
    HappyHoneyBee
  • Jenny Bertram Fiori
    Jenny Bertram Fiori
  • Emma Laperruque
    Emma Laperruque
Emma was the food editor at Food52. She created the award-winning column, Big Little Recipes, and turned it into a cookbook in 2021. These days, she's a senior editor at Bon Appétit, leading digital cooking coverage. Say hello on Instagram at @emmalaperruque.

4 Comments

HappyHoneyBee October 4, 2018
One of my fav recipes by Ina Garten is her Creamy Polenta recipe! It is so simple but so delicious and is the perfect vehicle to serve under stews, chicken, sausage and shrimp!
 
Emma L. October 4, 2018
Gotta try that! Sooo excited it's polenta season.
 
Jenny B. October 3, 2018
Could you make this hours before and serve at room temperature?
 
Emma L. October 4, 2018
Good Q! You could...though the bread might get sort of soggy. Here's what I would do instead: Roast the cauliflower and mix it with the mascarpone, Gruyere, prosciutto, etc (all listed in step 4), and keep this mixture in the fridge; this can be done a day before serving if that makes things easier. Toast the bread a few hours before serving. Then, just before serving, assemble the toasts and broil. All the prep work is done well in advance, but you still serve the toasts at their very best. Hope this helps!