I love roasted chicken.  I especially love it with roasted potatoes.  Since I don’t keep white potatoes in the house anymore (I only buy them on rare occasions and then only enough for that one meal), I had to find a comforting substitute.  My daughter loves to help me cook.  She always gets a little nervous when I bring out the cauliflower.  “Mom, is that white broccoli? I don’t like white broccoli.”  That’s when I look at her and say, in all honesty, neither do I.  At least not cut up on a veggie tray.  But, in the last year, I’ve developed a certain fondness for cauliflower in some recipes and this is one of them.  Roasted cauliflower florets sort of remind me of roasted potato wedges.  They’re substantial.  They have a slightly firm mouth-feel.  They take on the flavor of whatever they are cooked/seasoned with.  I honestly love this recipe even more than I love it with potatoes.

Start by cutting up a head of cauliflower into bite size pieces.  Mix together the oil, salt and pepper and grated garlic.  Toss the cauliflower and oil mixture together until cauliflower is well coated.

Put the cauliflower in a 9×13 baking dish.  Season a whole, cut-up chicken with season salt (or use whatever cut chicken pieces your family loves). Lay the chicken in a single layer on top of the cauliflower.  This way the chicken drippings cook down over and around the cauliflower.

Bake this at 350* until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is golden brown.  If you’re using bone in, skin on chicken it’s going to take a while.  I cooked mine for about an hour.

Recipe:

1 head cauliflower

1 Tablespoon oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 cloves garlic – grated

1 whole cut up chicken

season salt

Preheat oven to 350*.

Remove leaves and stem from cauliflower.  Cut or break into bite-size florets.

Stir together oil, salt, pepper and grated garlic.  Toss cauliflower in oil mixture. Place cauliflower evenly across the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish.

Sprinkle both sides of chicken pieces liberally with season salt and arrange in a single layer on top of the cauliflower.

Bake at 350* for 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through and golden brown.