Dinner Tonight: Roasted Cauliflower with Capers
When I pulled this from the oven, I was livid. Both the cauliflower and capers came out looking awfully disappointing. And by “awfully disappointing,” I mean “burnt." I just couldn’t believe Martha Stewart, of all people, would construct such a disastrous mess of a recipe. I mean, you all can see this, right? Those little black balls are the capers. I almost chucked it right there.
Ends up all those crispy black bits are full-flavored goodness. I really should have known better. I had no use for cauliflower until I learned that it gets this wonderful nutty aroma when you roast the hell out of it. And this caper-assisted recipe is even easier than the curried version I had made before. The fiancée actually finished this before the meat course, forking up all those little black bits as quickly as possible.
About the author: Nick Kindelsperger is a co-founder of The Paupered Chef, a blog dedicated to saving time and money while enjoying food in every way possible. He sells wine for a living and lives in Columbus, Ohio.
Roasted Cauliflower with Capers
- serves 2 -
Ingredients
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
2 1/2 tablespoons capers
3 tablespoons olive-oil
Salt
1/2 tablespoons marjoram leaves, chopped (optional)
Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. In a large bowl, toss the cauliflower and capers with the oil. Then spread the mixture out on a large roasting pan. Season with salt. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally so the cauliflower browns evenly.
3. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with marjoram leaves, if you have them.
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9 Comments:
looks like burnt popcorn.
suburbangourmet at 5:29PM on 04/28/08
I had some raisins baking on the floor of the oven for at least a few weeks...I bet they were just as tasty as the capers, I wish I would have saved them! :)
Carosone at 6:25PM on 04/28/08
Bob Blumer from Surreal Gourmet and Glutton for Punishment does a recipe like this in one of his cookbooks, except he calls it "Popcorn Cauliflower". I find that you have to roast it for a lot longer than 30 min at 400 though in order to get the crispiness, more like an hour to an hour and a quarter at 400, flipping it every 15 minutes or so.
hungrysailor at 6:38PM on 04/28/08
Looks like you didn't stir it "occasionally" enough.
kurteye at 9:10PM on 04/28/08
i recently made a delicious roast cauliflower, capers, lemon & mascarpone pasta dish (successfully, imo, attempting to recreate a dish from the good fork in red hook, brooklyn). not sure where i got the recipe for the roast cauliflower but it turned out more golden brown than burnt.
j at 8:45AM on 04/29/08
I'm trying this tonight.
JudyH at 10:39AM on 04/29/08
Roasted Cauliflower is hands down, my favorite dish. I don't know about the addition of capers, though. I'm not a huge fan of them.
valser at 1:02PM on 04/29/08
I've totally had this before! Except we garnished it with some slivered almonds before baking it...it's really interesting how the Cauliflower's flavour morphs once you've caramelized it. A real pleasant surprise!
hungrychristel at 2:50PM on 04/29/08
Next to roasted asparagus, roasted cauliflower is a favorite of mine. Dice up lots of garlic, add two to three tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 30 minutes turning frequently at 400 degrees. This will turn a cauliflower hater into a cauliflower lover.
Catharine56 at 3:23PM on 04/29/08