Roasted Cauliflower with Caraway Seeds

This week past was a bit of a comedy of errors. W had been pretty sniffly over the weekend prior, and by Monday morning both S and I woke up with sore throats. We were feeling hopeful though, confident that if we dosed up with honey & lemon tea and stayed home all day, we’d knock it on the head and be fine. We were wrong.

By Tuesday morning we were both feeling pretty crook. It’s the first time I’ve been sick since W was born; it didn’t matter how much I wanted to stay in bed drinking tea until midday, W was up and ready to play at 6am. After brekky I sat down at my desk with a cuppa to check my emails. W was crawling around and wanted up, so I scooped her into my lap. In a split second, the tea was all over my laptop.

Luckily it wasn’t hot, so W wasn’t burnt. BUT MY COMPUTER. My not-backed up computer. Frantic phone calls, a trip into the city, and my laptop was at the doctor. In the meantime I just had to wait and hope that my files were okay, and that I wouldn’t be shelling out for a new computer. And did I mention that I was sick, with a pounding headache and work that was starting to pile up?

In the end, the week had a happy ending. I picked up my computer on Saturday and it was totally fine. All it needed was a new trackpad (even the tech who fixed it remarked on how lucky I was), and they didn’t charge me for it even though my laptop wasn’t under warranty. Booyah! The sickness had also left our household, so Saturday was spent catching up on work and watching Game of Thrones Season 3 in preparation for Season 4 coming out this week. And Sunday? Sunday was for cooking.

As most of what we eat is plant-based, I want to bring it back to basics. When planning recipes for this blog, it is easy to start concocting elaborate ideas. One of my most popular posts, however, were these easy roasted carrots, and most often the dishes that we keep coming back to at home are simple ones that focus on maximising the flavour of one particular fruit or vegetable. With that in mind, over the coming months I plan to share my favourite ways to cook a variety of veges. To start, the humble cauliflower.

There is no doubt in my mind that the best way to cook cauliflower is to roast it until the edges start to brown and crisp. This particular dish teams the cauliflower with caraway seeds and fresh parsley, and is perfect as a side to a fish (or meat) main, or as part of a medley of roasted veges. We also ate it for Sunday lunch atop a bed of herbed couscous, a handful of white beans for protein, and finished with some tahini drizzle (pictured below). Either way, you really can’t go wrong.

Enjoy!
Sarah x

Roasted Cauliflower with Caraway Seeds

Ingredients
½ large cauliflower
1 ½ tsps caraway seeds
Rind of one lemon
2 tbsps dried cranberries
1 cup parsley
Extra-virgin olive oil, to cook
Sea salt, to taste

Method

Preheat oven to 200°c / 400°f.

Chop the cauliflower into large florets; don’t worry if the pieces are all of different sizes. In a bowl combine the florets with a generous glug or two of olive oil, the lemon rind, and the caraway seeds. Toss through to combine, ensuring all of the florets coated in oil and seeds. Spread in a single layer on a baking dish and roast in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes, until the edges of the cauliflower are browned.

In the meantime, wash and finely cut the parsley, and roughly chop the cranberries.

When the cauliflower is ready, toss through with the parsley, cranberries, and a generous sprinkle of sea salt. Serve immediately.

Serves 2 (main) / 4 (side dish)