Imagine mildly spicy roasted cauliflower florets drizzled with a creamy lemon herb tahini sauce. This recipe will turn cauliflower into an elegant and delicious side dish to accompany any main course. If you love cauliflower, you will absolutely adore this flavorful and colorful recipe.
Choose a cauliflower that is firm, heavy, and tight without any brown spots.
Peel off the leaves as much as you can. You may not be able to get rid of all leaves by hand.
Cut off the stem at the bottom with the remaining leaves.
Place the cauliflower head on a wooden cutting board with the stem above.
Hold it steady by the stem. Take a sharp knife and start cutting the stem of each floret off the main stem.
If you end up with larger florets, cut them in half.
Spice it up!
Take a small bowl and add all ingredients of the marinade.
Mix it well with a spoon or spatula.
Baking the florets
Preheat the oven to 395 Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius).
Take a sheet pan with parchment paper or a non-stick baking sheet and place florets in the middle.
Drizzle them with the marinade.
Use your hands to really rub in the marinades and the florets are covered on all sides with it.
Spread the florets in one layer. Try to space them out to avoid overcrowding.
Bake them for approx. 40 minutes. Depending on the size of the florets the baking time may be shorter, so check them halfway and adjust the time accordingly. They are ready if they are tender.
Lemon herb tahini sauce
Wash the fresh dill and parsley.
Squeeze one lemon to capture the juice.
Peel garlic clove.
Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor (tahini, lemon juice, garlic clove, olive oil, black pepper, salt, water, dill, parsley, and capers).
Blend it until you get a smooth sauce.
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Notes
Cold vs room temperature – We recommend taking the cauliflower out of the fridge early on so that it can reach room temperature. It is easier to bake the florets crispy if the oven remains hot at all times.
Adjust baking time – We cannot empathize enough that baking time largely depends on the size of the florets. If you have a small cauliflower head, you may end up with smaller florets. Then 40 minutes will be too much. Check them at least at halftime after 20 minutes.
How to add the marinade? – While you can marinate the florets in a large bowl, we like minimizing the number of items you need to wash up after cooking. Therefore, we do the marinating directly on the sheet pan.
Which blender to use for the sauce? – The amount of the ingredients may be too small for your blender. In that case, take a thin long container and use a hand blender aka immersion blender. Since there are no hard ingredients, your lemon herb tahini sauce will still be creamy and smooth.