Ina's Roasted Cauliflower with Lemon and Capers
I took a little hiatus these past couple weeks. Is anyone else feeling a shock to the system from so much stuff opening up again? We went from zero activities to a week full of after school activities for the kids and birthday parties. As a result, there's been a lot of take out and not a lot of cooking! That said, I was able to sneak in this incredibly simple side dish last week that's definitely worth adding to your rotation. Don't let the anchovies scare you away!
Let's break it down.
PREP
Chop up the cauliflower into florets with flat sides so they brown better. This part was simple. Mincing the anchovies made me queasy but a necessary evil for this dish. The rest is super straightforward.
COOK
While the cauliflower is roasting, you can prep the items for the sauce, so this whole thing comes together seamlessly. Make sure you're watching the butter while the anchovies and garlic cook, you don't want it to burn. Then, you take it off the heat, add the capers, lemon zest, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes and set aside until the cauliflower is ready. The butter sauce takes about 5 minutes as long as you have everything prepped and ready to go, so keep that in mind in terms of when you're taking the cauliflower out of the oven. Mine roasted for more like 35 minutes versus the 25-30 that Ina suggests in the book.
Once the cauliflower is out of the oven, you pour the sauce over it, sprinkle Parmesan, squeeze lemon juice and garnish with parsley. Make sure you serve it warm. We ate some when it got to room temp and there was a definite difference in the taste/consistency.
REVIEW
As mentioned above, this needs to be eaten warm. It loses a lollipop for taste once it's at room temp. However, served warm, this is a solid 4 lollis. My husband enjoyed it more than I did and is craving it, but I have a hard time getting past anchovies. I'm a wimp.
