Roasted Cauliflower With Pine Nut, Raisin, and Caper Vinaigrette Recipe

Name: Roasted Cauliflower With Pine Nut, Raisin, and Caper Vinaigrette Recipe
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1 head cauliflower, trimmed and cut into 8 wedges; 6 tablespoons (90ml) extra-virgin olive oil, divided; Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1 tablespoon (15ml) sherry vinegar; 1 tablespoon (15ml) honey; 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed, drained, and roughly chopped; 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts; 1/4 cup raisins; 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

Why This Recipe Works

Slicing the head of cauliflower into wedges, rather than cutting it into small pieces, creates greater contrast between the caramelized exterior and tender interior.
A sweet and tangy vinaigrette nicely offsets the nuttiness of the cauliflower.

Cauliflower and broccoli look similar at first, and the goal is the same when you're roasting them—sweet nuttiness from browning and caramelization—but cauliflower (and its cousin romanesco) is much denser than broccoli, and thus needs to be treated differently to get there.

As with other brassicas, high heat is what you're after here in order to get the most flavor out of cauliflower. Cutting the heads up into fat wedges helps build up a nice contrast between the deeply browned exterior and the tender, meaty interior. It's cauliflower that eats almost like a steak.

Close-up of roasted, deeply browned florets of cauliflower. — Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

I have found that the best method is to split trimmed cauliflower (or romanesco) through the core into six to eight wedges, toss with oil, season, and roast at 500°F (260°C) until browned and tender, flipping once during cooking.

Charred cauliflower florets on a foil-lined baking sheet. — Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

Roasted cauliflower is great on its own, with just a drizzle of really good olive oil or lemon, but I like to turn mine into a warm salad with a more elaborate vinaigrette, like this one flavored with pine nuts, capers, and raisins.

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How to Roast Cauliflower

December 2013