Lemon-Garlic Roasted Cauliflower with Fennel and Gremolata

My wife just reminded me of a wonderful recipe from Organic Gardening (FEB/MAR 2014).  It is by Myra Kornfield of Myra's Kitchen.  My wife just phoned me from our farmer's market to ask what I needed to prepare this dish.

Lemon-Garlic Roasted Cauliflower with Fennel and Gremolata


FOR GREMOLATA:
1 garlic clove minced
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons chopped flatleaf parsley


FOR THE CAULIFLOWER
1 lemon, peeled and sliced thinly
(about 6 slices), seeds removed
1 medium head of cauliflower, cut into medium florets
1 head garlic, cloves peeled and left whole
1 fennel bulb, cored and thinly sliced (2 cups sliced)
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 ¼ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400F. For the gremolata, mix together the garlic, lemon and parsley in a small bowl and set aside
   

1. In a large bowl, place the lemon slices, cauliflower, garlic cloves, fennel, oil, salt and a sprinkle of pepper and toss together. Spread on a parchment covered baking pan and roast for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until the cauliflower has browned and garlic is tender. Transfer to a serving dish or to individual plates and sprinkle with gremolata. Serve hot.
   

Makes 4 servings

I made this dish and it transformed our family's thinking about cauliflower.  Before, it was at the bottom of our veggie meal list.  We love bold flavors, so this recipe is very appealing to us.

I have a few comments based on our experience in preparing this.  The gremolata can blow your socks off, so use at your own risk (smile).  We prefer this dish without the gremolata.

We use a toaster oven to prepare this.  It saves you from heating up your whole kitchen if you don't need to.

For us, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt is a bit much. 

We used a bit more garlic because we had some extra on hand.   We enjoy roasted garlic.  We ended up with more than six slices of lemon and we liked it that way because there was better distribution of the lemon flavors.

The day after I first prepared this, I made a double batch.  It was quickly gobbled up (especially by my 11-year old daughter).

Sorry about the odd line spacing.  I pasted this from a word processing document.