Oven Roasted Parmesan Cauliflower

Summer in Pilsen. No school until August, which means long days with the windows open and the farmers market on Saturday and the taqueria on 18th Street where I have been going for lunch twice a week because the al pastor is two seventy-five a taco and is better than most things I have ever eaten. I have been cooking a lot — working on recipes for the blog, testing things, writing them down. This is a kind of work too, even when it feels like play.

June 18th is coming — classroom walk-through. I have been thinking about it every few days, the way you think about a trip you are planning. What the room will look like. Where I will put things. I have a legal pad with rough sketches: desk clusters, the sensory corner I am planning, the visual schedule board, the book baskets. I have been buying supplies at clearance prices. The bin in the hallway at Patty's moved to the storage closet in Pilsen. It is getting fuller.

Made street-style corn this week — elotes, or my version, which is corn on the cob grilled in the cast iron (no grill in the apartment), slathered in mayo and cotija cheese and chili powder and lime juice. I had seen it from the cart on 18th Street for a dollar fifty each and thought: I can figure out how to make this. I bought four ears of corn for a dollar at the Saturday market. The cast iron charred them beautifully. Total cost for four elotes: under three dollars.

Claudia knocked while I was making them, drawn by the smell, she said. I gave her one. She said "Not bad." She then spent ten minutes explaining the proper technique, including that the mayo should be the Mexican kind and the cotija should be crumbled finer. She is right about both. I wrote it down and updated the blog post before I published it. Credited her in the notes. She told me later she had never been credited for a recipe before. She looked very pleased. I am learning from every kitchen I am near.

Claudia’s note about trusting the heat — letting the pan do what the pan does instead of fussing — stayed with me all week. The elotes taught me that lesson with corn, but I wanted to carry it somewhere else, somewhere I could use what I already had in the fridge. A head of cauliflower from the Saturday market, a fistful of Parmesan, a hot oven: same principle, different vegetable, same satisfaction when the edges go golden and a little fierce. This is the recipe I made the following Tuesday, written down the same way I wrote down everything Claudia told me — carefully, and with credit where it’s due.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 large head cauliflower, cut into medium florets
3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, for serving
Lemon wedges, for serving

Instructions

Heat the oven. Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or leave it bare for better browning — either works.
Season the florets. In a large bowl, toss cauliflower florets with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and smoked paprika until evenly coated. Add 1/4 cup of the Parmesan and toss again.
Arrange and roast. Spread florets in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet, cut sides down where possible. Do not crowd them — give each piece room so it roasts rather than steams. Slide into the oven and roast for 20 minutes without disturbing.
Add the second round of cheese. Pull the pan out, scatter the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan evenly over the florets, and return to the oven. Roast another 5–7 minutes until the cheese is melted and the edges are deeply golden with some crisp, dark tips.
Finish and serve. Transfer to a platter. Scatter fresh parsley over the top and serve immediately with lemon wedges on the side for squeezing. Best eaten hot from the pan.

Nutrition (per serving)

Oven Roasted Parmesan Cauliflower — When the Neighbor Teaches You to Trust the Pan