My veg box this week contained a treasure. A romanesco cauliflower. In anybody’s world it’s a stunningly beautiful object.
It looks like it’s from another planet. You can do maths with it. It’s fractal and it’s made up of Fibonacci spirals. And it’s delicious. What more do you want from a vegetable?
I came by this recipe via Abel & Cole and they got it from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Veg Every Day cookbook. I added some sumac to the mix, basically because I don’t get a chance to use it that often, but just use more paprika if you don’t have it. Don’t make this without the lemon, though. You don’t eat them, but the sweet-sour roasted tang of their juice really makes this dish special. And, of course, any kind of cauliflower will do. I ate it as a main course with crumbled feta and a few black olives and I can’t wait to make it again.
Ingredients
1 medium cauliflower
1 lemon
1/2 tsp ground sumac
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
Pre-heat the oven to 220C.
Break the cauliflower into florets and put in a roasting tray.
Cut the lemon lengthways into segments.
Splosh a little olive oil over the cauliflower and lemons.
Sprinkle over the sumac and the paprika, season with salt and pepper.
Toss the cauliflower and lemons in the oil and spices until they’re all coated in the mix.
Put into the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the cauliflower is cooked and browned a little at the edges.
Serve with the roasted lemon wedges to squeeze over the cauliflower.
Serves 2 as a main course with some crusty bread.
Two Fat Vegetarians 
Oh wow. I have to try this. Aside from cauliflower cheese, which I adore, I never know how to make cauliflower interesting. And lemons and feta and olives would be a marriage made in heaven with it.
You *so* have to try this. This is mouthgasmic, roll-back-the-eyes-and-moan-in-pleasure good. From a cauliflower! Seriously. If you had this in a restaurant you would talk about it all week. It’s so good I’m babbling about it.
That looks fantastic! I’ve been wanting some cauliflower recipes.
And what a beautiful cauliflower – I wish I could get it in HI, but I’ll make do with the regular 🙂
We don’t see romanescos that often in the UK, but normal caulis are pretty too and it’ll taste just as good!