If you follow me on Instagram, you know I’ve been inspired by Sam Sifton’s latest cookbook, See You On Sunday. When I’m inspired by a cookbook, it follows me around like the novel I’m reading, and I read it cover to cover. I muse over it. I impulsively grab ingredients I read listed in it like cardamom pods and gochujang sauce and chili crisp. When we were packing to come up to the lake this weekend, I rushed through the store, and vaguely remembered flipping through the pages and a photo of two roasted cauliflower heads with capers on top, put two in my cart thinking they would be easy to do on the side of whatever steaks or burgers we made.
My instincts guided me well because we found a new favorite, easy summer side. It’s meaty, its flavorful, it went well with our lamb burgers and our steak tips. And it’s healthy. I woke up today feeling so good and realized it was because of how many veggies we ate, helped by the lick-your-fingers-good roasted cauliflower.
If you’re not already drooling, maybe this will convince you: I preheated the oven to 450, cored the cauliflower, drizzled 2 T. olive oil on each head and salted & peppered them. That’s it. It took maybe 2 minutes. And it yielded showy, warm, delicious food. What more can we ask for from our kitchens?
There also seems like a lot of room for improvisation, with whatever you have on hand. Parmesan with a drizzle of garlic and balsamic? Soy sauce, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar? They could work on this beautiful blank canvas. A yummy dipping sauce like the blooming onion variety would also work well here. But the purist version is simple and good and sometimes to have a meal really sing that is all you need.
Happy Eating, and here is to finding the joy in this summer!
xoxo Katie
INGREDIENTS
1 to 2 medium heads of cauliflower, (1 1/2 lbs each), leaves removed
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, or more to taste
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained
Freshly ground black pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
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