Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Roasted Cauliflower and Figs


Looking for a new Easter side dish to serve your family? I'll have to admit, I really enjoy cauliflower, prepared in any manner..and paired with fresh figs..oh my, just simply delicious!
I have made this dish several times, typically using dates and it is really so good and healthy too!. But after making some fig jam this week I had some figs left over that needed to be used up, and one lone Meyer lemon so I thought, why not? And guess what..it was fantastic! Give it a try, you will love it. I served it along with sliced grilled chicken breast with a drizzle of hollandaise and a tossed salad.

Roasted Cauliflower with Lemon & Figs


1 head cauliflower
5-6 fresh figs
2 garlic cloves, smashed & minced
1/2 cup olive oil
2 TBLS fresh lemon juice
3/4 tsp fresh ground pepper, plus more for serving
pinch of sea salt
1/4 tsp dried summer savory

1 lemon, sliced--I used a Meyer lemon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove and discard the outer leaves and thick stem from cauliflower. Divide the head and then quarter it. Then, with each quarter cut the cauliflower into smaller 1/4 inch slices/pieces. Rinse the figs and remove the stem and cut into bite sized pieces.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine the minced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt and pepper and mix well. Add to this the sliced cauliflower, figs and lemon slices--tossing all to coat it. Transfer the mixture to a baking sheet or large oven proof casserole in a shallow layer and sprinkle on the savory.



Roast at 400 degrees until the cauliflower is lightly browned and just tender--about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, transfer to serving dish and because I love pepper I always grind a bit more pepper over before serving. Enjoy!

9 comments:

Chef Chuck said...

Hello Hello!
It has been a while!
I hope your doing well.
This cauliflower dish looks so good with the sweetness of those figs!!

Ciao Chow Linda said...

Fresh figs? Not fair!!! I want some too. But I bet this would taste good with dried ones too.

~~louise~~ said...

Hi Jady!
Marion was absolutely thrilled to get her b-day present yesterday! She is just so cute. I said I wanted to write you immediately and she asked me if I could wait until she sampled one of the jellies with her breakfast this morning. Surprise Surprise she chose the Beach Plum and she told me to tell you, "It was dee...lish...ious!!! (and yes she said she will share:) Thank you so very much Jady. It was just so sweet of you.

As for that cauliflower, we had a new store open up in the area and they had California cauliflower on sale for {drum roll...) 88 cents. Of course I had to buy tons! I didn't get any figs though but like Linda said, I'm sure I could used dried. I'll be trying your recipe for sure.

Thanks for sharing. It looks delicious!!! I can't wait to try it!!!

P.S. Thank you again. I'll be sending your Sausage book tomorrow!

Karen said...

Oh, I love dates and I think this would be a really nice 'something new' to do with cauliflower.

YankeeSoaper said...

Hey Chuck.. nice to see you again! We're doing just great, thanks.

YankeeSoaper said...

:) Linda! You know, in a pinch I have tried the dried figs..aside from it being more convenient..it is very good too!

YankeeSoaper said...

Wow on the drum roll Louise, that's an awesome price! Lucky you. Let me know how yours turned out, thanks!

YankeeSoaper said...

Aww go on Karen.. I know you'll love this easy dish! ;)

~~louise~~ said...

Happy Spring Jady! Marion's birthday post is up. If you get a chance, pop by:)

Thanks again!