Sicilian Style Roasted Cauliflower



This wins for my favorite way to serve my favorite vegetable.

Roast it, then toss the cauliflower with raisins, pine nuts and toasted breadcrumbs. Easy and delicious. You can serve it warm or at room temperature. Watch it disappear.

Roasted Cauliflower Sicilian Style:

1 large head of cauliflower, separated into medium size florets
kosher salt
olive oil
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
1/4 cup of panko Japanese style breadcrumbs
1 tbsp olive oil + 1 tbsp butter
1 large garlic clove, pushed thru a garlic press
1/4 cup golden raisins (plumped in some boiling water)
1/4 cup of pine nuts
salt & pepper

On a large baking sheet, toss the cauliflower florets with the fresh thyme leaves, kosher salt & olive oil to coat.



Roast in a 400F oven for about 20 minutes, turning once, until golden. While the cauliflower is roasting, make the breadcrumbs.



In a small skillet, heat the tablespoon of butter w/ the tablespoon of olive oil on medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs and garlic and mix with a wooden spoon until the crumbs are beginning to turn golden brown. About 5 minutes.

Add the raisins and pine nuts at the last minute and toss in with the breadcrumbs. It will smell yummy.



When the cauliflower is done, place in a shallow serving dish and toss with the raisins and breadcrumbs. Season with salt & pepper and drizzle with some olive oil just before serving.



DELICIOUS!



Enjoy!

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Comments

SarahB said…
Great tossed with pasta too!
Anonymous said…
Stacey, have you had any problems with pine nuts. Over at David Lebovitz's blog, when a poster asked about substituting pine nuts for other nuts in a cookie recipe, he remarked about something called "pine nut mouth", a nasty taste in the mouth that lasted for at least several days. It appears to have a connection to the cheaper pine nuts coming out of Asia and sold at many, many stores including Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, WalMart, and on and on.

He says he buys only pine nuts from Italy (he lives in Paris). American pine nuts are apparently no problem. This is an industry report, but there are others at Google on "pine nut mouth syndrome".

http://www.pinenut.com/pine-nuts/bitter-mouth-pine-nuts.shtml
Anonymous said…
PS. One can see the attraction to the cheaper pine nuts when they are traditionally so pricey...
Kathy Walker said…
Roasted cauliflower is so tasty. I will have to take a look at pine nuts before purchasing.
Anonymous said…
Should have mentioned that the recipe sounds delicious. Unfortunately cauliflower is a big NO for DH, so... I am fortunate to have gotten him to (finally) eat broccoli.
Joanne said…
This is one of my favorite ways to make cauliflower also! Love that bread crumb crunch.
Anonymous said…
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Ciao Chow Linda said…
Stacey and anonymous - I also have read about the deleterious effects of eating pine nuts from China, so even though they cost a lot more, I buy only the Italian ones now. They're harder to find as well as being costly, but here in Princeton, D'Angelo's Italian Market sells them. You could probably find them online too. The cauliflower looks straight off a Sicilian restaurant menu, Stacey.
Stacey Snacks said…
Regarding Pine Nuts:

I only buy pignoli nuts from Italy (or US, if you can find them).
You can mail order them on amazon or go to an Italian market for them.

Trader Joe's pine nuts are from Russia and Korea, I checked the other day. I won't buy them either.

I have never experienced "pine nut mouth" as Proud Italian Cook and David Lebovitz talk about, however, just reading about the mettalic taste in my mouth, makes me stay away! I buy no food products made in China, period.
Delicious! Ate the entire bowl for dinner.