Big, Juicy Curried Cauliflower Steak Foldit with Quick Pickled Red Onions

Admittedly, I can be guilty of steering clear of vegetables during the winter months, unless you call, ahem, a slice of coffee cake a vegetable. All my local farmer’s markets are done for the year, so I have that excuse, I guess, but it seems like from November on, everyone in the household, including me, tapers off on the fresh food and heads for the rich stuff: cheese, red meat, bacon, and pasta. And wine. So why am I so surprised when my closets and drawers begin to betray me? And why am I shocked that I’m more sluggish in the mornings? I can’t be the only one who simply feels better when eating more vegetables.

And believe it or not, the grocery store during the cold months can still be a wonderful place for finding those unsung winter vegetables that are so good for you: turnips, parsnips, spinach, fennel, brussels sprouts, squashes, and my personal favorite, cauliflower. Cauliflower may be pale and white, it may have been boiled to tasteless mush by your great aunt, but trust me on this: when roasted in the oven until crispy and brown, cauliflower is going to be your new BVF. (That’s Best Vegetable Friend, in case you didn’t know.) My better half loves this cauliflower made into a burger on a Flatout Foldit almost as much as I do, and that’s saying something.

So the next time you’ve got meat on your mind, try my cauliflower burger on a Flatout Foldit instead, and your body will thank you. The quick pickled red onions are a staple I have in my refrigerator. Whenever I need just part of a red onion, the rest of the onion gets sliced up thin and plunged in white vinegar in a little jar, only to turn hot pink and oh, so delicious. The vinegar takes the onions down a notch, in my opinion, and make them friendlier somehow. We put them on everything!

Before you roast, a generous little shake of your preferred curry powder (I like it spicy, but it doesn’t have to be!) over the slices of cauliflower will give your Foldit burger an even bigger punch of flavor once it hits your mouth, so don’t skimp. And because the Foldit is less like a bun, and more like a pita, all the flavors in this recipe work just perfectly. Next time your great aunt swings into town, buy an extra package of Flatout Foldits and have her over. She will be proud you’re eating your vegetables!