Pursuing a lifelong interest in brewing, Wisconsin-born Shane Welch started Sixpoint Craft Ales in 2004, and by 2005, the Red Hook, Brooklyn-based brewery was fully operational. Known for its robust, unique brews made with an artisan’s attention to detail, Sixpoint has earned devotees up and down the East Coast. But Welch’s interest in agriculture isn’t limited to hops and barley. Vegetable gardening is “a lifelong passion,” Welch says, one that started at an early age in his parents’ backyard. So it’s only natural that he’s installed an ambitious container garden on Sixpoint’s rooftop.

 
Featuring all organics, the garden includes many “crazy cool funky” heirloom tomatoes, multiple varietals of herbs like thyme, mint, and basil, Oaxacan tomatillos, and a purple variety of cauliflower whose early spring planting is now close to harvest. Welch looks forward to sharing this first harvest with employees and friends, enjoying the food more “knowing we created it.”
 
Though most of the cooking and preparation of the roof garden’s produce will be handled by his main squeeze, Cathy Erway (of Not Eating Out In New York), Welch is full of ideas himself, and shared three of his favorite ways to prepare cauliflower.
 
Roasting enhances cauliflower’s natural nutty sweetness; curry powder is an especially nice way to season it, but it has enough flavor that simple salt and pepper will suffice. Closet Cooking shares a simple technique, sure to convert even cauliflower detractors.
 
Versatile cauliflower is also tasty raw; Welch loves it in salad. This recipe from Chez Maggie & Jeff calls for raw cauliflower to be marinated overnight in a piquant vinegar dressing, then tossed with fennel, arugula, and radicchio.
 
Welch plans to pickle and preserve his garden’s bounty throughout the season, to keep the harvest alive all year; cauliflower makes an especially tasty pickle, Welch says, because it absorbs a lot of brine (and therefore flavor) without losing its characteristic crunch. This cauliflower pickle recipe from Not Derby Pie is aromatic with coriander and mustard seeds, with a bit of cayenne for kick.
 
Though it doesn’t have brassica cousin broccoli’s chlorophyll, any variety of cauliflower is loaded with vitamin C, vitamin K, folate, dietary fiber, and dozens of other nutrients. Increasingly common orange cauliflower is also high in vitamin A, while the purple variety Welch is growing also provides the beneficial antioxidant anthocyanin, also found in red wine. And of course, cauliflower's mild nutty flavor makes it perfect to pair with your favorite brew!

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