Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini Dressing

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We absolutely love this Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini Dressing. It’s quick, easy, and soooo satisfying. The charred taste of the roasted cauliflower with the creamy, garlicky, lemony tang of the tahini dressing goes so well together. Best of all we feel good eating it. It’s vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, and super healthy.  

We have not always been the biggest fans of cauliflower. Let’s be honest it’s not the easiest vegetable to love. On its own, it’s super bland and is almost always prepared incorrectly. But when it’s properly seasoned and roasted YUMM! It transforms into the perfect salty, sweet, savory, crisp yet soft bite. To say we are obsessed is an understatement.

Think of cauliflower as a blank canvas. Put it with anything and everything and it works. In sandwiches, pasta, salads, or completely on its own. Cauliflower we’re your biggest fans, we are so so sorry it took us so long to understand you. 

Here is what you’ll need:

Tip for roasting cauliflower (and almost all vegetables) : 

  • High Heat – Don’t be scared, crank up your oven to 230° C and let it preheat properly.
  • When your roasting vegetables in the oven a cool trick is to pop your empty roasting pan in the oven for 5 min. to heat up before adding your vegetables.
  • Try and let your vegetables come to room temp. when you are roasting them. This just creates a more favorable environment for proper roasting. Just think about it putting cold vegetables in your oven will bring down the temperature in the oven. We don’t want this, we want it to be as hot as possible.
  • Don’t add your olive oil directly onto your vegetables in the roasting pan. A better way to ensure your vegetables are properly coated with olive oil is to premix them in a bowl.
  • Leave some room between your vegetables. Crowding your roasting pan will encourage your vegetables to steam not roast. SO THIS IS A NONO!

Let’s make our roasted cauliflower salad: 

This is really just 2 steps; the roasted cauliflower and making the dressing. 

Preheat your oven to 230°C while you prepare your cauliflower. Remove all the leaves off your cauliflower. Using a large knife, cut the stalk off the cauliflower so it sits flat on your cutting board. Then slice it down the middle. You will now have 2 pieces. Slice each of those in half also. Now we have 4 pieces of cauliflower. Using your knife make 1 angled cut right behind the stalk. Most of the florets should automatically separate. If they don’t use your knife to remove any additional part of the core that’s holding them together. Continue to cut these down until you get bite-sized pieces. We like to cut the florets so that you get a flat edge on one side. This creates a nice surface area to caramelize when we place this in the pan later. Here’s a nice video from Gimme Some Oven’s youtube channel on how to cut cauliflower.

 Place all the cauliflower florets into a bowl. Drizzle on 3 tbsp of olive oil, ½ tsp salt, and ½ tsp black pepper.  When your oven has come to temperature place your empty roasting pan into the oven for 5 min. After 5 min. using oven mitts, carefully open the oven and slide out your roasting pan and arrange your cauliflower on top in a single layer. Be careful here your oven will be extremely hot.

Roast the cauliflower in the oven for around 25 minutes. We like ours pretty roasted and caramelized. You can adjust the time according to your preference. Halfway through cooking, very carefully using a tong flip your florets. 

Let’s make the tahini dressing:

While your cauliflower is in the oven make your tahini dressing. Simply add your tahini, salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice into a bowl and mix. Add 1 tbsp of water at a time until you get a smooth creamy texture. 

Prepare your serving plate, spoon half the tahini dressing onto the plate. Place your roasted cauliflower on top. Add some more tahini dressing on top. You can serve any extra dressing on the side. Add some parsley and sea salt on top. We like to serve this with a wedge of lemon to squeeze on top while eating. 

If you try this Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini Dressing, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #thetablediaries on Instagram. We love seeing all the recipes you and your family enjoy.

Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini Dressing

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

Roasted Cauliflower

  • 1000 grams cauliflower 1 large head
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp black pepper

Tahini Dressing

  • 6 tbsp tahini
  • 1 clove of garlic minced
  • 4 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice or to taste
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • dash black pepper
  • 3-6 tbsp water add 1 tbsp at a time until you reach a smooth consistency. You might need extra to get a creamy consistency.

Garnish

  • 2 tbsp fresh parsley
  • dash sea salt

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 230°C
  • Remove all the leaves off your cauliflower. Using a large knife, cut the stalk off the cauliflower so it sits flat on your cutting board. Then slice it down the middle. You will now have 2 pieces. Using your knife make an angled cut in an upside-down V shaper to properly remove the core. Most of the florets should automatically separate. If they don’t use your knife to remove any additional part of the core that’s holding them together. Continue to cut these down until you get bite-sized pieces.
  • Place all the cauliflower florets into a bowl. Drizzle on 3 tbsp of olive oil, ½ tsp salt, and ½ tsp black pepper.
  • When your oven has come to temperature place your empty roasting pan into the oven for 5 min
  • After 5 min. using oven mitts, carefully open the oven and slide out your roasting pan and place your cauliflower florets on top. Arrange them so they are not close together. Be careful here your oven will be extremely hot.
  • Roast the cauliflower in the oven for around 25 minutes. Carefully flip halfway cooking through with tongs (be careful oven will be extremely hot).

Tahini Dressing

  • Add tahini, salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice into a bowl and mix. Add 1 tbsp of water at a time until you get a smooth creamy texture.
  • Spoon half the tahini dressing onto the plate. Place your roasted cauliflower on top. Add some more tahini dressing on top. Garnish with some fresh parsley and sea salt.
Course: Appetizer, Side Dish, Salad

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