It’s been a minute since I’ve showed cauliflower some love.
My apologies, cauliflower… but you give me gas.
Gas aside, I felt inspired to give it a go after seeing this recipe from Anna-Marie. It had a really cool twist – she toss the cauli in stock before roasting it. I did just that in today’s strange (but good) recipe: Lemon Pepper Roasted Cauliflower.
I started out with a yellow cauliflower, so this will look more yellow than if you use a white one. Both would be good… but did you know that the color in a yellow cauliflower comes from a genetic mutation? This mutation gives it more beta carotene and about 25% more vitamin A than white cauliflower.
The taste and texture are similar. It possesses the same firmness and crumbly florets. If anything, the flavor is slightly more sweet, but it’s nothing drastic.
Regardless of the color of your cauliflower, the ingredients in this recipe will give you an incredibly flavorful side dish. The use of vegetable stock adds flavor without extra fat (read: more room for cheese on top).
I added liquid smoke for a bit of a BBQ flavor. If you don’t have any on hand, shame on you. Kidding. You could replace the cayenne and liquid smoke with a smoked paprika.
Top this deliciousness with parsley for color and lady health. Grate some pecorino or parmesan cheese over the top… because cheese.
Do NOT skip that roasted lemon step. The little bit of juice to finish the dish is amazing.
[Tweet “Lemon Pepper Cauliflower – low fat, #healthy, and packed with flavor! #fitfluential”]
Lemon Pepper Roasted Cauliflower
- 1 large head cauliflower (I used a yellow carnival), divided into small florets
- 3 T vegetable stock
- 1 lemon, quartered
- 6-7 drop liquid smoke (optional)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- ¼ C parsley, roughly chopped
- Grated parmesan cheese, to top
Preheat the oven to 450. Line a baking pan with non-stick foil.
Place the cauliflower pieces on the pan and toss with the stock, juice from the lemon, and liquid smoke. Do not throw away the lemon!
Add the garlic, pepper, and cayenne, tossing again to coat. Spread the cauliflower across the pan as evenly as possible. Place the juiced lemons on the tray as well.
Roast the cauliflower for 20-25 mins, tossing half way through. They’re done when they begin to turn golden brown.
Plate the cauliflower with lemon on the side. Sprinkle the top with cheese and parsley, and give a squeeze of that roasted lemon juice.
Make 4 servings.
How have you enjoyed making co-workers, friends, or family stare with strange but good creations this week? The link up rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above. In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends! Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.
Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂
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Apparently it was good… Vegas didn’t complain about the gas.
What’s your favorite way to eat cauliflower?
Is there a food you love so much that you’ll eat it regardless of the side effects?
I love your bluntness!!! 🙂 I adore this recipe! From the Liquid Smoke to the parsley and the cauliflower, this is an excellent combo! I agree that cauliflower can most definitely cause some gas, but I love cauliflower despite its tummy-active effects. 🙂 Great recipe, I’ll definitely try this minus the cheese and try it with nutritional yeast! 🙂
Thank you! I’d love to hear what you think if you try it. Nutritional yeast is a great idea!!!
Hahaha! I feel the same way about cauliflower but I still eat it. It’s just too good to pass up! I usually like to keep it simple by roasting it but I like the addition of lemon. Trying soon!
I always forget about cauliflower! I know your probably find that offensive so I’m here to tell you that from now on, I will include her 🙂
This seriously looks delicious and if I get the yellow kind, the boys may even eat it!
You should get the boys the purple kind!!!
Roasted lemon? Now that’s one I hadn’t heard of!
Really?! I roast them a lot with fish – so good! It sweetens them up.
Just think of yourself as a turbo diesel. The gas is just propelling your forward.
I laughed so hard reading that… I almost farted. Hahahahaha!
RAW cauliflower is my favorite, nothing more simple!
And yea, I totally eat anything. My digestion is so messed up I don’t even care anymore, so cruciferous veggies to killer acid foods, I eat them all and then just suffer in silence 😛
I love it raw too! Have you ever tried papaya digestive enzymes? I just bought some tonight (along with more cauli)… we shall see if it does anything!
Let me know!!!
I love cauliflower and this looks deeeelicious!
Mmmh, lemon and cayenne pepper? That sounds like a good combination. I don’t like the acidity of lemon juice as is but guess it’s getting milder through baking?
I eat a ton – really – of legumes and Brussels sprouts, broccoli, okay, any vegetable regardless of the … smelly side effects.
I think baking lemon definitely makes it more mild. Once roasted, it gets much sweeter to me!
LOL! Yes its gassy but good. But roasting it helps and eating it with lemon. No joke! Great combo
We should start that hash tag – #gassybutgood.
The first line kills me because we had cauliflower with dinner last night and my son told me he didn’t want to eat it because it would make him fart. Which, coincidentally, is how I originally enticed him to eat cauliflower.
LMAO! That is too funny… boys. 🙂
So… did he end up eating it?
Not that night. I may need to find a new tactic.
Yum! I love showing cauliflower some love. Thankfully I don’t have the same *ahem* “issues” with it that you do. The cheese on the other hand…I’ll have to eliminate that.
I’ve always wanted to try cooking with liquid smoke! I don’t have a backyard or even space for a BBQ (small apartment in a big city) so I’ve wanted to experiment
I’m the the same boat. The day we can have a Big Green Egg, I’ll be in heaven!
I had no idea yellow cauliflower was a thing?! Broccoli is my gas trigger…. I only eat it on nights I know I’m not going to be around other people haha
Broccoli gets me too. And garlic. And brussels. Those are the worst!
Huge cauliflower fan and I always forget about using liquid smoke for flavor-yum!
Cauliflower AND broccoli give me gas, but it never stops me from eating platefuls. Poor John and Matilda.
I love the idea of tossing it in stock first! Pinned!
This recipe does make the impending suffering (for yourself and others) worth it !!! 🙂
This looks so good. I’ve never tried roasting lemon. I’m going to pin this right now!
Thank you! I’d love to hear what you think if you try it. Roasted asparagus is great with asparagus too!
Oh wow this sounds great and even better I have all of these ingredients at home…even the liquid smoke!
Thanks! I’d love to hear how you like it if you try it out!
I love using fresh lemon on my veggie dishes! Cauliflower is actually one of the only veggies I don’t like… I just can’t get into it, and I’ve tried may times!
No judgement… I can’t do potatoes or green peas.
What a combination!! Can you believe that I have never bought cauliflower?
Whaaaaat?! You gotta try it. 🙂
I LOVE your twist on the recipe! What a nice surprise – thank you for including me. I love the taste without using the oil and LOVE roasting the citrus!!
Thank YOU! I’m using the stock idea on so many things now. 🙂
Gas aside, roasted cauliflower is one of my favorites. This is perfect with Spring coming up!