Recipe courtesy of Miri Lewis, whose blog The Great Cookery Adventure features a wide selection of vegetarian and vegan dishes.
Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini and Date Syrup
Serves: 4
Cauliflowers are for me probably the big fluffy duvet of the vegetable world. This recipe is really delicious, and I have been eating a lot of it lately. It is a bit like a healthier, Ottolenghified cauliflower cheese. One medium-sized cauliflower will make enough for a mezze dish for up to 4 people. I tend to buy the extra-large cauliflowers wherever possible. I have left the quantities here vague so that you can scale up/down depending on how much you are making.
Ingredients
- Cauliflower – separated into florets (ranging in approximate size from walnut-egg).
- Olive oil
- Tahini
- Water
- Lemon juice
- Date syrup
- Za’atar
- Sea salt and black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200 c (180 with fan)
- Toss the cauliflower florets in olive oil and arrange them in one layer on a baking tray. Grind some salt over them, and roast them for 25-35 minutes, or until cooked through and browned in places. Try not to eat all the pieces straight out of the tray, and let them cool to room temperature.
- To make the tahini sauce, put a few tablespoons of tahini in a bowl and add a little water and lemon juice. When you start stirring, the mixture may seize and become grainy, but don’t worry this is normal. Continue adding water and mixing until the sauce becomes creamy. Add more lemon juice to taste along with a little salt and pepper.
- Arrange the cooled cauliflower on a nice plate (this is very important), and drizzle with tahini in artful swirls. Add an artful swirl of date syrup on top of the tahini (a little goes a long way), and sprinkle some za’atar over the top.
