orange cauliflower

i am a sucker for vegetables in unusual colors.  when i was little i always insisted my dad buy me purple green beans, and was very disappointed that they turned green once cooked.  purple potatoes get me every time, as does purple broccoli (why are they all purple?).  so i was super excited to see orange cauliflower at the farmer’s market this morning!  seriously, orange cauliflower–look!

  i bought it immediately.  the mix of people at the grand army plaza farmer’s market is very interesting–lots of yuppies of course, lots of families with their kids and dogs, and also lots of people from the caribbean.  that means there is a really great range of products there that appeal to all audiences.  lima beans, okra, organic pork, seafood, jamaican spinach (callaloo?), and now, orange cauliflower.  the yuppies sometimes get to me though (even if i might qualify as one at times) with their weird sense of entitlement.  one woman cut to the front of the orange cauliflower stand line and demanded to know how they made it orange, whether they added anything to it.  the guys selling it told her it was just a different variety of the vegetable and continued serving their customers.  she kept pressing them though, and finally asked if it was genetically modified cauliflower!  everyone started laughing and she walked off.  seriously, what is the likelihood that these small farm farmers are selling GMO veggies?!  i guess some farmer in canada discovered this orange cauliflower growing wild somewhere up there in canuckland and started cultivating the variety.  cool stuff.

so once i got home i decided soup would be the perfect vehicle to showcase the cauliflower color and promptly started my preparations.  sauteed cauliflower with onions for a while, then added chicken broth and some saffron, let that simmer until the cauliflower was softened and then used my immersion blender (which actually doesn’t work as well as I’d like), added some half and half, chives, salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, and a dash of worcestershire sauce.  it’s pretty good, but most importantly, it’s orange!