This Was A Surprise

I was looking around Pintrest the other day and I found this recipe on the the Amateur Gourmet for Roasted Cauliflower. After reading it I saw a link that someone left in the comment section. Now I get to an other cauliflower recipe that is made with "Anchovies" ewww!
Cauliflower is one of the staples in our house, it's right up there with beans  :)  I was excited about this recipe because I could use my mortar and pestel, which I haven't used in years! The wheels in my brain started worked, "how can I change this?" I changed up a few ingredients (left out the anchovies) and gave it shot.
It was very good!
Give it a try and let me know how you like it.

Roasted Cauliflower with Lemon Almond Sauce

mix sliced cauliflower with olive oil and salt & pepper

For the cauliflower
1 medium-sized head of cauliflower                              
3-4 T extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
1 T parsley, chopped


For the lemon almond sauce
1 clove of garlic
1 t lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 palm full of almonds
3 T extra virgin olive oil (add until mixture until a thick sauce)

Preheat oven to 350˚F (175˚C). Remove any green leaves from cauliflower. Place head of cauliflower stem side down on a cutting board and slice like a loaf of bread into ¾-inch thick slices through the stem and all. (It will not all stay together) 

Toss cauliflower slices in a bowl with the oil and generous amounts of salt and a few grindings of pepper. 

Lay out in one layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place pan in oven and bake for 1 hour, turning the pieces 3-4 times. The cauliflower should turn deep golden brown, extremely tender and fall apart easily. It may appear ready after 40 minutes, but you want to press on and wait until the cauliflower completely collapses. Some smaller bits will turn dark brown and crispy. Do not discard them. They are the best parts.

Prepare the lemon almond sauce. Pulverize the piece of garlic in a mortar with a pestle. Pour lemon juice over it and let sit for 10 minutes to remove the rawness.

Coarsely chop the almonds and then add them to the mortar and pound to a paste.

Note: that's the new knife my kids bought me for Christmas.... If you have nothing else in your kitchen, have a GOOD knife.

Drizzle the olive oil while stirring with the pestle until a thick, pourable sauce is formed.

 

Place the roasted cauliflower in a bowel, add lemon almond  sauce, mix well and top with sliced green onion ends and serve, either warm or at room temperature.

 I also added a few red pepper flakes at and blended them in.

We had the lemon almond cauliflower with Chicken with Balsamic Vinegar and I added green and red bell peppers.

This was a success and I had fun making it. I hope you enjoy it and it would be a good recipe to try on the people who say they don't like cauliflower. The nutty taste with the little lemon flavor pretty much changes the tastes into something delightful.

Leave me a comment, I'd love to hear from you.

Find your ~bliss

Pam