Roasted Cauliflower!

Colorful dish

I noticed cauliflower at the market the other day.  I don't know why I never think of preparing it as a side dish.  It was $1.99 for a head and I decided to take the plunge and give roasting it a try. 

 

Sturdy vegetable

I roast broccoli, asparagus, brussells sprouts, you name it all the time.  These veggies usually take about 15 minutes to roast.  Cauliflower is much sturdier and takes almost twice the time to roast - more like 25 - 30 minutes.  I was serving it with flounder so I decided to toss in Kalamata olives and cherry tomatoes just to add some color.  As always when I roast vegetables, I added a few cloves of garlic.

Cut in half and remove the core

It's pretty easy to prepare the caulifower for the oven.  Cut the head in have, remove the core and cut into florets.  Drizzle with olive oil and squeeze fresh lemon over the mixture.  Add sea sale and pepper and pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Ready for the oven

You may want to hold off and add the tomatoes and olives until 15 minutes in or so.  I added everything at the beginning.  The tomatoes and olives were about ready to disintegrate.  I thought it tasted delicious!

Cauliflower is done when the florets start to turn brown

How delicious does this look?

Served with flounder - the tomatoes and olives added much need color

Broccoli and cauliflower "before"

Et viola!

A few nights later I thought I'd add even more color to the dish and incorporated broccoli.  It was a beautiful dish, but the broccoli cooks much faster.  It was a nice accident the softer broccoli and crispier cauliflower complimented each other nicely. 

Fiesta!  Roasted cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, garlic olives with swordfish teriyaki

The broccoli and cauliflower side went really well with my spicey swordfish teriyaki - I'll post that recipe shortly.

Roasted Cauliflower Recipe

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower - cut in half and core and cut into florets

3 - 4 cloves of garlic, peeled an coarsley minced

Fresh lemon juice from a lemon

2 tbspns extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup kalamata olives - pitted and sliced

1/4 cup cherry tomatoes - sliced

Salt & pepper to taste

Method

Pre-heat oven the 400 degrees

Place cauliflower into oven-proof pan

Cook, uncovered for 25 - 30 minutes

Add tomatoes and olives at the beginning for soft texture; if you prefer sturdier add 15 minutes into cooking time

Squeeze lemon juice on mixture and toss lemon halves into pan

Add salt and pepper and mix everything together so cauliflower is well covered with oil

Toss mixture every 10 minutes or so using tongs

After 30 minutes remove from oven and squeeze more lemon juice on mixture

Serve immediately and enjoy!