Roasted Cauliflower Caesar

This New York Times recipe is a full flavored take on cauliflower. Served warm or cold it works both ways. The cauliflower can be roasted ahead of time and served cold with the dressing and added parsley or it can be reheated and tossed with the cold additions. I prefer the warm cauliflower.

Slicing thick slabs of cauliflower was a great way to cut this up. It somewhat falls apart into uneven pieces which you can break further apart as you choose.

It’s great as a side salad or a vegetarian main dish. I’ve also made it with broccoli which is good too but the broccoli adds even more flavor to this dish.

Ingredients

1 medium cauliflower (2 pounds)

1/4 – 1/2 cup capers, drained

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 lemon, zest and juice (1/4 cup or so)

1/2 cup Parmesan finely grated plus more for serving

1/4 – 1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 anchovies, drained and chopped, optional

2 cloves garlic, minced

1-2 cups whole leaf Italian parsley

Directions

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees
2. Remove outer leaves from cauliflower and cut into large pieces. Trim stem so the cauliflower can stand upright. Slice thick slabs, about 5, and break off flowerettes. Pieces can be small or quite large and you can cut them into bites at the table.
3. Place all cauliflower bits and pieces on a large baking sheet. Toss with capers and olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread cauliflower evenly without overlapping to promote browning.
4. Turn cauliflower mixture over after 15 minutes and roast another 15 minutes. Color should be lightly or medium browned. Capers will be crisped.
5. Remove from oven and set aside. In a large bowl combine dressing ingredients: zest and juice of 1 lemon, mayonnaise, Parmesan, Dijon, garlic, anchovies, salt and pepper. I don’t add the anchovies.
6. Just before serving scrape all of the cauliflower into the salad dressing. Toss in as much parsley as you like. I added 2 cups which is twice as much as the original recipe.
7. Serve onto plates and add more Parmesan to each.
8. Serves 4 as a main course or 6 as side dishes.

Voila!