Roasted Coloured Cauliflower with Summer Sauce

Roasted Coloured Cauliflower with Summer Sauce

Need some inspiring ways to prepare delicious Quebec coloured or Romanesco cauliflower? This simple, tasty recipe is sure to please your taste buds! Serve warm with grilled meat or fish, or chilled in a nice salad.

As for the sauce, it’s a Mediterranean take on chimichurri. It’s a wonderful complement to vegetables, meats or grilled fish, to stir into pasta or top off a pizza (see notes for use at the end).

Ingredients

roasted califlower
  • 2 coloured cauliflowers (or Romanescos)
  • ¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil
  • A few twists of fresh ground salt and pepper
 
sauce
  • 1 tbsp. (15 ml) lovage, chopped
  • 1 tbsp. (15 ml) savoury, chopped
  • 1 tbsp. (15 ml) tarragon, chopped
  • ¼ cup (60 ml) parsley, chopped
  • ¼ cup (60 ml) garlic scapes, minced (about 3 stems)
  • ¼ cup (60 ml) green onion, minced
  • ½ cup (125 ml) sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped (or 1 tsp. (5 ml) ground pepper flakes)
  • 6 anchovy fillets, chopped
  • 2 tbsps. (30 ml) capers
  • 1 tsp. (5 ml) fleur de sel
  • Zest and juice of ½ lemon
  • 1 1/3 cups (330 ml) olive oil

Preparation

roasted califlower
  1. Preheat a convection oven* to 230 °C (450 °F).
  2. Using a clean cloth, wipe cauliflower and remove any dirt (do not rinse under running water). Remove larger leaves from the bottom of the cauliflower, but leave the smaller ones.
  3. Line a cooking sheet or an ovenproof dish with parchment paper and place cauliflower on top. Brush with olive oil, salt and pepper.
  4. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until the centre is al dente (we want to keep it a little crunchy!). Don’t cover while roasting (it will prevent the cauliflower from browning and will lose the caramelized flavour that we love so much).
  5. To get a nice golden colour with a traditional oven, finish roasting under the grill.

 

sauce et assembly
  1. Mix all the sauce ingredients with the olive oil.
  2. Refrigerate at least one hour.
  3. Cut roasted cauliflower into florets or quarters, then cover with some of the sauce.

 

Notes
  1. You can replace the 3 herbs (lovage, savoury and tarragon) with oregano, thyme, coriander or even mint.
  2. The sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 week.
  3. The sauce will be even tastier if prepared the day before.
Preparation
25 minutes
Cooking
25 minutes
Servings
8 portions
Category
Side dishes
Recipe by
Cervidés et Les Minettes

Other uses for the sauce: 

  • Meat (read, poultry) and grilled fish: Pour over meat or fish grilled with a little salt and pepper.
  • Pasta: Heat the sauce and serve on fresh pasta.
  • Pizza: Blend the sauce and cover your pizza dough (or naan bread) before adding the ingredients of your choice.
  • Dip: Blend the sauce and mix with sour cream (quantities to taste)