First we had Charred Broccoli Puttanesca. Then we had Cauliflower Carbonara. And today we have Cauliflower Piccata – giving another classic Italian treatment to take your typical roast veggies to the next level – and answering my cousin’s request for a new cauliflower recipe 🙂
SHOPPING LIST: 2 heads cauliflower, butter, 2 lemons, capers, coconut oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, garlic salt
Preheat your oven to 400. Again, I happen to ALWAYS use the convection function on my oven when roasting vegetables, so if you have that, it helps your cauliflower brown quicker. Remove the florets from your cauliflower and lay on a sheet pan. Drizzle with coconut oil (grapeseed oil, olive oil, whatever you prefer), season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and toss well so all of the florets are equally coated in oil and seasoning. Roast your cauliflower for 40-60 minutes – or until the florets are sufficiently browned.
For most of us, dinner ends here. By taking, LITERALLY, two extra minutes, you can transform your basic roasted cauliflower into something way more flavorful and interesting.
Zest two lemons and set aside. In a LARGE saucepan, the type where the sides come up a few inches, melt 2 heaping tB. of butter (or a butter substitute – I love the Earth’s Balance variety) over HIGH heat. After your butter melts it will start to BROWN – this is called brown butter, or in French, “buerre noisette” – allowing your butter to brown in this way will give it an awesome, nutty flavor. Once your butter starts to brown, add the juice of one of your lemons, the zest of both lemons, 3 tB. of capers and season with garlic salt. Once that is mixed, add all of your roasted cauliflower to the pan and give it a quick toss in your lemon-caper-butter sauce (like below).
I promise that you’ll find that taking these few extra steps in the kitchen will be worth the end result on your kitchen table.
The Kitchen Koach 