I know I just wrote about cauliflower and the beautiful colors we are now seeing, - golden, green, purple - but I never actually cooked any. So tonight, since Barnaby has been gone for eight days now, I thought something along the lines of comfort food would do nicely: mashed cauliflower.

If you’ve never had mashed cauliflower before it is actually quite yummy, and tastes very similar to mashed potatoes. I won’t say “just like,” since I am a potato connoisseur and there really is no substitute, but these come darn close.

Best of all, they’re easy…

Steam fresh cauliflower florets until soft, but not mushy.

Toss them in a blender, add a drizzle of half and half (or heavy cream, depending on how decadent you want to be ), a pat of butter, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Give it a good whirl until creamy, and there you have it - yummy mashed cauliflower!

Depending on what you’re serving as a main, you could add a bit of roasted garlic or fresh herbs (or go wild and add both!): thyme, chives, rosemary. You can’t go wrong.