Just Another Meatless Monday #50 Pesto Roasted Cauliflower

Crazy wild day around here today, husband is home, kids are wild and suddenly it's spring. The sun had warmth in it today, the snow is melting, the drifts are faltering in their stoutness and we are happy. I met friends for coffee and visiting while the rest of the crew listened to pipes and drums at the library an enjoyable day for all of us.
This is serious seat of my pants cooking here, no plan except "I'm going to roast cauliflower". I knocked the pesto over in the fridge reaching for something else and there it was, pesto roasted cauliflower beckoning to me.

Pesto Roasted Cauliflower--350˚

ingredients
1 large head of cauliflower
1 teaspoon of oil
3 TBSP of pesto
juice of 1/2 a lemon
pinch of salt

clean and slice cauliflower, I sliced mine crosswise to make slabs, I think I like bite sized pieces personally work better for coating the cauliflower
drizzle oil in the bottom of a baking pan
use a piece of cauliflower to slide around the pan and spread the oil
place the cauliflower in mixing bowl
drop half the pesto on top squeeze on the lemon juice and stir it up
add the rest of the pesto trying to coat the cauliflower evenly
lay the pieces in the oiled baking pan
sprinkle with the pinch of salt
roast at 350˚ for 35-40 minutes or until done to your liking

added brussels sprouts

pesto roasted cauliflower

As you can see from my picture my head of cauliflower was very small, so small that had I laid that out for dinner my kids probably would have cried and then wrestled for the cauliflower. I made and executive decision and added a bag of frozen brussels sprouts to the pan for pacification. Roasting them for the same length of time worked perfectly and they definitely put enough roasted goodies on the table that we had no tears or arguments at all. I did drizzle them with their own bit of oil and gave them a shake of salt too.

Now when your cutting up the cauliflower don't throw out the best part, the stem! It is the heart of the plant and the very best of it too. Just slice off the cut end, trim the leaves and outer stem and there is the core of the cauliflower. I slice it into bites and eat it while I'm cooking, my kids love it too and if I have too I'll share, but mostly I like to hoard it for myself.

the core is on the left

Peace and Love--