Roasted Cauliflower

This recipe is extremely simple and melt-in-the-mouth addictive, an easy winner as both entrée and side dish. It has become popular thanks to Israeli chef Eyal Shani, and a mainstay on the menu of the Miznon restaurants, and has been widely adopted and adapted, from vegetarian homes to keto dieters. While the preparation time is super short, it requires some forward planning due to the cooling time before the roasting starts!

We recommend using a medium to robust EVOO (such as Le 4 Contrade or Dehesa de la Sabina), which will leave a distinct flavour even after the roasting process.

Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients (1-2 persons):

1 cauliflower head

3 tbsp Coarse salt

2 pinches Salt crystals

Pepper to grind

Extra virgin olive oil

To garnish: fresh coriander and pomegranate

Blanching: in a deep pan, put about 2 litres of water to boil with 3 table spoons of coarse salt. While the water is heating up, remove outer leaves from the cauliflower, and rinse thoroughly. When big bubbles start to surface on the boiling water, dip the cauliflower head inside, whole. Leave to cook for about 10 minutes, then remove the cauliflower head and place in a colander to drain. Leave until it has cooled down to ambient temperature.

Roasting: turn on the oven, set at 250 °C. Place on a parchment lined oven tray and douse in extra virgin olive oil with a circling motion, allowing to seep into cauliflower crevices, add two pinches of salt crystals. Place in oven, and leave to cook for 1 hour or until the cauliflower is generally golden, with some florets slightly charred. Take out and leave to cool.

Garnish: with fresh coriander leaves and pomegranate seeds. Serve hot or cold, whenever you feel like it!