Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Roasted Cauliflower With Butter & Sage

It might not sound like the most exciting dish... but honestly this NYTimes-recipe cauliflower was so aromatic and delicious I could just eat the whole batch happily! The recipe itself is a bit fussy so I don't know that I would make it on casual occasions, but it would fit well into a dinner party and definitely into Thanksgiving again. I would consider the lemon zest essential to its success, so don't skip on the lemon, add a little bit of juice if you must.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup sage leaves, loosely packed

1 tablespoon coarse salt, more for tossing

3 heads cauliflower, cut into florets

About 1 teaspoon table salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 lemon, zest finely grated.

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a small pan until rippling. Add sage and cook, stirring, just until crisped, about 2 minutes. Lift out sage and drain on paper towels; transfer oil to a large bowl. Let sage cool and crumble with fingers into a small bowl. Stir in coarse salt and set aside.

2. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Place roasting pan with an inch of water in oven bottom. Add cauliflower to bowl with oil, add about 1 teaspoon table salt, and toss gently until coated. Spread out on two large baking sheets. Bake until browned, 20 to 30 minutes.

3. Melt butter in a small pan over medium heat. When foam subsides, watch closely and stir often. When white solids are brown and butter smells toasty, turn off heat, squeeze in juice of lemon and stir well.

4. Transfer cauliflower to a bowl, pour butter over, and add lemon zest. Add half the sage salt and toss. Taste and season with remaining salt as needed.

Yield: 10 to 12 servings.

No comments: