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Roasted Pesto Cauliflower

Cauliflower is bathed in vibrant pesto and roasted to perfection in this easy, flavorful side dish recipe. This is perfect for adding a little something to your dinner.

I like vegetables a lot. But what I don’t like is boring vegetables — just steamed or boiled and thrown on a plate. I don’t think that does the flavor of any veggies justice. It’s just like cooking with any kind of meat or fish: sure, you could just grill it up and throw a hunk on a plate, but with a little bit of herbs and spices, it can be a spectacular dish.

So I rarely do just plain veggies (unless it’s corn on the cob … mmm … or I am really short on time).

This particular recipe for Roasted Pesto Cauliflower is one I dreamed up while working on the first draft of my cookbook. However, it never made it into the manuscript because my attempts left me wanting: the flavor just wasn’t there and I didn’t have time to tweak it anymore.

This time though, without the pressure of a deadline looming, I perfected the process and the flavor. Roasted Pesto Cauliflower is the side dish you didn’t know you were missing.

And it was. I’ll have to earmark this recipe for a future cookbook (way, way, way down the line … you know after Families Eat Together FINALLY makes its debut).

Editor’s Note: That cookbook wasn’t published. But I’ve written several others since then including The Super Easy 5-Ingredient Cookbook.

Anyway, this is a quick and easy one. I recommend making your own pesto since it’s so much tastier than the store-bought stuff. But in a pinch, that could easily be used too.

Yield: 4 servings

Roasted Pesto Cauliflower

Roasted Pesto Cauliflower

Cauliflower is bathed in vibrant pesto and roasted to perfection in this easy, flavorful side dish recipe. This is perfect for adding a little something to your dinner.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 large head of cauliflower
  • 1 cup basil pesto
  • sea salt
  • cooking spray

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
  2. Wash cauliflower and cut into florets that are about 1-1.5 inches (some smaller ones are okay too). Place into a large Zip-Loc bag. Add pesto. Seal bag, taking care to remove all the excess air. Now, shake, squeeze and toss to completely coat all of the cauliflower.
  3. Line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. Spread cauliflower onto the pan in an even layer. Sprinkle with sea salt (to taste).
  4. Cook for 15 minutes, turning once about halfway through.
  5. Serve hot.

Karen

Monday 1st of August 2016

I made a cauliflower basil pesto sauce with steam 1" chunks of cauliflower until tender. , with or without basil. 1/2 cup toasted pecans, 1/2 cup water, 2 cloves of garlic. Parmesan cheese ( ran out of Parmesan. Substituted baby bell light cheese. 4 circles. )If without basil, I added green onion and three radishes for a sharper taste. Blender. Chill.To eat with chips. Preferably. Milton multi seeded chip crackers.

Low in weight watcher points. . Karen

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