This is a fun and satisfying way to roast cauliflower. Serve these slabs alongside just about anything, especially your favourite pasta dish. Here we’re pairing them with a lemony arugula pesto, but they’re also excellent with chimichurri sauce or sun-dried tomato pesto. It takes about one minute to chop a cauliflower and throw it on a sheet-pan, so this is a great thing to make when you’ve already got the oven fired up for something else!
For the arugula pesto, I like to go big on the lemon and light on the oil. Start with less lemon if you’re not so into tartness. Use cold pressed flax oil if you’d like an Omega 3 boost. Extra virgin olive oil is a great choice as well. If you’re in Canada, check out my friend’s olive oil business: Attilio’s Olive Oil. Their olives are grown in their family orchard in Italy, where they go each year to harvest. They’re awesome, and they ship!
Roasted Cauliflower Slabs with Lemony Arugula Pesto
Ingredients
- 1 large cauliflower
- 1/2 cup raw walnuts
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 oz arugula
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil or flax oil
Method
- Preheat the oven to 425. Use the convection setting if you’ve got it.
- Cut your big beautiful cauliflower into slabs, pat dry, arrange on an unlined sheet pan and roast until tender and slightly charred. About 25 minutes.
- While the cauliflower is roasting, make the pesto.
- Place the walnuts, garlic and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the S blade. Process until you have a coarse meal. Add the arugula. Turn on the motor and pour in the lemon juice and oil while the motor is running. Process until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Serve the cauliflower slabs with a generous smear of pesto on top. Enjoy!
