Roasted Sicilian Cauliflower
This unique & delicious roasted Sicilian cauliflower is healthy, easy, and packed with so many flavors and textures--crunchy, savory, sweet, citrusy, acidic, and bright. It's the perfect easy side dish!
Servings: 2 -3 large servings
Ingredients
- FOR ROASTING
- 1 small head of cauliflower in quite small (bite-size) florets
- 2 tablespoons of avocado oil or olive oil, etc
- Fresh-ground salt and pepper a sprinkle of garlic powder
- FOR TOSSING
- 1-2 cloves of garlic sliced thinly
- Small handful of pine nuts about 1/8 cup
- 1/8 cup or less of golden raisins
- 1-2 tablespoons of champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar to taste
- Zest of 1/2 lemon or more, to taste
- Fresh parsley roughly chopped
- Regular olive oil for cooking
- High-quality olive oil for drizzling
- Optional: Capers
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 425°F and toss your cauliflower with the avocado oil, salt, pepper, and a little garlic powder. Roast until it’s cooked but still a little firm inside, 12-17 minutes.
- While it's roasting, heat a little olive oil on medium-low heat, then fry the sliced garlic and pine nuts for a minute or so---be careful, they will burn quickly so keep an eye on them!
- Soak some golden raisins in champagne or white wine vinegar so they plump up a bit.
- Once your cauliflower is roasted, place in a medium bowl and add the soaked golden raisins (with the remaining vinegar), fried garlic and pine nuts, and add the lemon zest and some chopped fresh parsley. Add the capers (and a bit of brine) if you want it a bit punchier.
- Drizzle with some of your nicest olive oil and toss everything together. Taste it and you'll likely need more salt (I like flaky sea salt here), and adjust other flavors as needed (e.g. if you want more lemon zest, etc). Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes great leftovers as well.
Notes
I’d say it’s slightly better hot out of the oven, but still very good at room temperature, which makes it work for a party like this.