Lemon Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower
Golden roasted, plus lemony and cheesy, Lemon Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower, delivers loads of flavor–with an easy prep secret! 
The other day I bought an old Bon Appetit magazine. It caught my eye at a charity store–I’m a sucker for a good food magazine.
But lucky for me, it had an interesting looking cauliflower recipe—just when I had two in my refrigerator!
Cauliflower
The recipe was a variation on roasted cauliflower. But what I loved most was an innovation that made perfect browning a cinch. You see, the best browning comes from turning your veggies over part way through baking. But individually turning a whole panful of bite-sized vegetables is ridiculously time consuming!
Slice into planks or “steaks”
For Lemon Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower, however, the cauliflower is left as large “planks” (also called “steaks”–more on that later), so a full cauliflower can be turned in about six flips of the wrist. How easy is that!
Roasts beautifully!
When it’s done, you can serve the slabs whole, or break into florets. Since I’ve always been suspicious of “cauliflower steaks”, (“can’t wait to dig into that juicy cauliflower steak” – what?) I tried the florets version first. With the second cauliflower I served as “planks” and we all thought that was actually better. But if you are stretching the cauliflower further, breaking it apart and tossing would be fine.
Floret version…
I did experiment with a few innovations. First I added roasted garlic and anchovy to the dressing, but neither added enough flavor to be worth the extra effort. I also reduced the roasting time since the cauliflower was tender early. The final change was to double the Parmesan in the recipe. ‘Cause twice as much cheese is always better.
Wisconsin girl here.
A serving
- • 1 large head of cauliflower
- • 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- • Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper
- • 1 ounce coarsely grated Parmesan
- • 1 Tablespoon capers, drained
- • 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- • 1 medium lemon, juiced, about 2-3 Tablespoons of juice
- • ¼ teaspoon salt
- • 1 ounce coarsely shredded Parmesan
- • 1 Tablespoon fresh herbs (optional) - we liked marjoram a lot
- Place a rack in lowest position of oven; preheat to 450°. Clean cauliflower, trim stem then cut into one-inch thick planks (some pieces will fall off and that’s okay)
- Transfer cauliflower to a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with 3 Tablespoons oil. Turn pieces to coat both sides. Season with salt and pepper
- Roast cauliflower on bottom rack until pieces are browned around the edges and on the undersides, about 15-20 minutes.
- When cauliflower is browned on the underside, remove baking sheet from oven and place on a work surface. Using a spatula, turn cauliflower pieces over so browned sides are facing up. Sprinkle one ounce of the Parmesan over cauliflower. Return sheet to oven and continue to roast until second side of cauliflower is browned and Parmesan is toasty, about 10 minutes.
- While cauliflower is finishing, coarsely chop capers, then whisk in a small bowl with 2 Tablespoons oil and lemon juice.
- When cauliflower is browned on both sides, remove to a serving dish. It can be left as large planks or broken into florets. Drizzle with dressing, then top with remaining parmesan and herbs if using. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper as needed.
I’m on the lookout for meatless dishes now that my daughter has turned full-time vegetarian. This looks delicious! Both she and I would thoroughly enjoy this! I agree— more cheese, more better 🙂
I’ll have to try serving it to my almost meatless daughter too!
Nice photos! I love this dish…breaking it into smaller pieces and tossing it with pasta.
Another great idea Karen!
I can’t believe your timing with this recipe, Inger! I bought cauliflower at the farmers market and didn’t have any idea what I wanted to do with it… And then friends gave us some fresh lemons from their tree, and I don’t want them to go by the wayside… Enter you, with his perfect recipe. Timing is, indeed, everything! I’ll get back to you after I make it.
Hope you enjoy David. In Florida at the moment (briefly), so for once I didn’t have to sigh when you mentioned fresh citrus!
For sure, twice as much cheese is better! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Great minds think alike, Tandy!