Roast cauliflower with basil pesto, parmesan & pine nuts.
After a lovely get together with some fellow Irish food bloggers and the lovely ladies of Sacla UK I came away with my newly packaged squeezy bottles of basil & tomato pesto eager to have a go at being inventive.
Roast cauliflower was something that was on my mind. Now I’m a huge veggie fan at the best of times and will easily pack away half a head of cauliflower at one sitting.
I like to keep it firm and bitey and usually serve it simply boiled but this time florets entered a hot oven simply drizzled with a garlic olive oil to roast until tender. Still hot they were liberally covered in a tbsp. of the basil pesto and served with a dusting of grated parmesan and some toasted pine nuts for extra texture.
You will need:
1 head of cauliflower
Olive oil or rapeseed oil
1 tbsp basil pesto
Handful pine nuts
Parmesan for grating
Method:
Pre-heat the fan oven to 200C (Gas Mark 7)
Break the cauliflower head into florets and place on a baking tray.
Bake in the hot oven until tender – a knife can push through – approx. 15 – 20 minutes.
Once done place the hot cauliflower in a bowl and stir through the pesto.
Quickly dry-fry (no oil) the pine nuts until lightly toasted.
Scatter the pine nuts over the cauliflower and serve topped with finely grated parmesan.
Enjoy.
‘Til next time, Sheila.