Hail the humble cauliflower!  It’s turning up everywhere – from slow roasted cauliflower at Chelsea’s Cookshop to tahini and date-paste drizzled cauliflower in Bon Appetit to curry-scented cauliflower soup at my place on Sunday evening. Tonight, I’m making cauliflower sauteed with chives, lemon zest and garlic.

I love to cook with cauliflower. It eagerly soaks up the flavors it’s mixed with. It takes on a sweet nutty flavor when combined with caramelized onions; an Indian zing when tossed in turmeric and cumin; and a rich honeyed flavor when sauteed with butter, nutmeg and shallots. It’s also a great substitute for mashed potatoes when you’re limiting your carbohydrate intake.

Cauliflower is a nutritional powerhouse. Its white coloring is loaded with glucosinolates, a phytonutrient that up-regulates your detoxification capacity and helps to balance sex hormone levels (ie good for post-booze weekends, decreasing PMS and increasing your libido).

It also contains 12 grams of fiber for every 100 calories.  Oatmeal, on the other hand, gives you 2 grams of fiber for the same number of calories. But that’s another story…