Buttery exception #1

Cauliflower.

We now butter cauliflower.  A has been eating cauliflower unbuttered since she could pick it up herself.  I offered small pieces that had been previously frozen, which made them softer.  These were slightly warm pieces, usually having spent less than a minute in the microwave in a ceramic dish with a bit of water.  I served them on a plastic bunny plate, usually alongside broccoli and corn.

But once more complex flavors came along, like the weekly roast chicken; A has been less than thrilled with cauliflower.  About the time A was 2 ½ we moved on to onions and roasted brussel sprouts.  Revisiting old favorites is an easy energizer for us.  If neither of us has any creativity left at the end of the day, we’ll think, “What was it we used to do?” Cauliflower, and it was so easy.

Thinking back to a visit with my parents, I remembered my dad’s way of making cauliflower, simple steamed chopped with butter and pepper.  So I served it.  A teaspoon of butter per person, stirred into dish after it is cooked, is all I added for flavor.  The “sprinkle” is optional.  A adds her own sprinkle when it is pepper, unless the sprinkle is a flavored salt.  She is not as fond of sprinkle as my dad and I, but the buttered cauliflower?  All eaten.  And I think, “Why did we ever stop eating this?” 

Cauliflower is all new again!  Thanks, Dad.



Update on Friday, June 17, 2011 at 11:46AM by The Urban View

It’s a good thing too.  Coming back from vacation we had precious little in the kitchen for dinner the next few nights.  One trip to the grocery store, but this produced mostly meat and exotic fruit.  One night we ordered pizza, a veggie plus sausage - which makes everyone happy, especially A.  She likes the sausage and any interesting lump of unidentified toppings hiding under the cheese.  Inspecting Mama’s piece after her own is gone - What is that bite? She’ll say.  I don’t know!! I’ll say.  Can I have that bite? She’ll say.  Go for it baby, Mama likes the plain dry leftover crust anyway, (and can have a whole other piece after you go to bed.)

And then in the freezer I found a forgotten frozen chopped head of cauliflower, maybe from 3 – 4 weeks ago.  Add meat, add exotic fruit, there’s dinner.