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Roasted cauliflower with charred lemon herb pesto

Charred cauliflower with herb pesto - roasted cauliflower with charred lemon herb pesto

I know this time of year you would expect me to be posting all kinds of light, refreshing, don’t you even think about turning that oven on, type of recipes.  Thing is, it’s cold and rainy here today and I wouldn’t dream of turning on the heat in July to warm up – the oven however is acceptable.

With the garden exploding with herbs right now this was a quick and easy way to incorporate lots of parsley, basil, oregano and chives.  I knew I had to use them soon or the deer certainly would.

We paired the Roasted Cauliflower with a pan seared halibut filet, and used a bit more of the Charred Lemon Herb Pesto to melted butter and spooned it over top just before plating, it was quite a winner. Another dinner worthy pesto dish you might enjoy is this Chicken with Parsley Pesto we made last summer many times.

The forecast is calling for super hot temperatures later this week, since I made a double batch of pesto I am thinking  a simple tomato cucumber basil salad, grilled bread to drag through the remaining pesto, and a super cold bottle of Rosé.  No oven required there honey.

Ingredients

  • 1 medium head of cauliflower, sliced into steaks approx. 1/2″ to 3’4″ thick
  • sprinkle of kosher salt
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 lemon, thickly sliced, seeds removed
  • 1 cup loosely packed fresh parsley
  • 2 large sprigs fresh oregano
  • 1 cup loosely packed fresh basil
  • handful of fresh chives
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped slightly
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • juice of 1 lemon

 

Instructions

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Remove outer leaves from cauliflower and the bottom of the stem, slice into steaks approx. 1/2″ thick, you may have some smaller florets that fall off use them too.

Sprinkle with kosher salt and drizzle with olive oil and place on sheet pan.

Slide into pre-heated oven and roast until charred at edges and tender when a fork is inserted.

In the meantime, sprinkle sliced lemons with salt and olive oil, place on preheated bbq over med/high heat and cook approx. 3-5 mins, until nicely charred and outer rind is softened.

Set aside to cool a bit before handling.

in a food processor, add herbs, garlic, salt and pepper, charred lemons that you have roughly chopped and with machine running add the olive oil until a chunky paste is formed.

Remove cauliflower from oven and smear with the pesto and serve.

Alternately you could heat your BBQ to med/high and grill the cauliflower in a grill basket for approx. 15 mins, turning at least once until it’s nicely charred and tender.

We served this with a seared halibut that was dusted with cornstarch, cooked 4 mins per side then place into the oven with the cauliflower for another 5 mins or so. Finished with a few tablespoons of butter added to the side of the hot skillet and a dollop of the pesto, spooned it over the fish a few times then removed to platter, served with an ice cold bottle of Rosé.

Find more of Pamela’s gluten free recipes at PamelasGlutenFreeRecipes.com.

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