I like to cook a very simple recipe for roasted potatoes: I peel and cut potatoes to cubes, mix them in a sauce of olive oil, garlic and sweet paprika and place in the oven for about an hour under aluminum foil. I then take out the aluminum foil and for about 10-15 for a crunchy texture.
Now, I want to add cauliflower to the dish. I plan to cut the cauliflower to small pieces and just mix them with the potatoes. I don't have much experience with cauliflower – will I get thoroughly cooked and crunchy cauliflower? Do I need to pre-boil the cauliflower?
Best Answer
With an hour in the oven at roasting temperatures (400-450 F/205-230 C), small pieces of cauliflower will likely overcook, not under. Most recipes call for only 25-30 minutes in the oven at this temperature. Under foil, the cauliflower will add a lot of liquid - steam - and may even get sort of mushy before you remove the foil. You definitely don't need to pre-cook the cauliflower.
You haven't noted your baking temperature or the size of your cubes... for that long amount of time, I'm guessing you're baking your potatoes at a lower temperature, as recipes for 1/2 inch (1 cm) cubes of potato don't generally require that long of a baking time... but most recipes don't call for cooking under foil for that matter.
Have you thought about finding a recipe (if only for the methodology, not flavors)? Seems like you should be able to ditch the foil, cook at 400 F/205 C for about 30-40 minutes and be done with it.