Roasting Tray with Purple Cauliflower, Potato and Carrot Wedges

What I really could do with today are green tomatoes but they don't sell them here, not even in tins. Come to think of it, I've never seen green tinned tomatoes...Anyway, I digress. Why do I need green tomatoes? Well, today's organic box contained a purple cauliflower and I love roasting it in the oven with tomatoes or a tomato sauce but can't bear the colour clash.


If it was purple when it was raw, it was an even deeper blueish purple after I blanched it and almost aubergine coloured after roasting. So, I decided that in this autumnal weather a roasting tray wouldn't actually feel too wintry.

purple (or ordinary) cauliflower, cut into large florettes
carrots, cut into wedges
potatoes, cut into wedges
fresh thyme sprigs
garlic oil
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt

1. Place the carrots and potato wedges into a roasting tray, season with pepper and salt and drizzle with garlic oil. Add the thyme sprigs and with your hands, mix everything until the veg are well coated with oil. Tuck in the thyme sprigs so they can develop their full flavour and don't burn. Place the tray into a preheated oven at gas mark 6-7/200-220°C for about 1 hour.

2. In the meantime, blanch the cauliflower for 2-3 minutes, drain and leave to sit until all the water has dried off.

3. When the carrots and potatoes are almost done, either add the cauliflower to the same tray or place it in a separate tray. Season with pepper and salt, drizzle with olive oil. Depending on the size of the florettes, the cauliflower probably only needs to be roasted for about 15 minutes.


Serve with crème fraîche, yoghurt, tsatsiki or any other salsa you fancy. We had this one with garlicky parsley yoghurt.