Roasted Cauliflower with White Garlic Sauce (Paleo, Gluten-Free)

This roasted cauliflower recipe is inspired by a dish from one of my favourite Sydney restaurants Ester. The cauliflower (including the leaves) is roasted until golden brown and served with dairy-free, creamy cashew garlic sauce and toasted almonds. It’s absolutely delicious with a touch of fancy.

Recipes Notes

This recipe is not hard but requires some prior preparation of nuts so make sure to start this recipe a few hours ahead. You can also pre-soak the cashews in the morning. Prepare the cashew puree and the crumbs while the cauliflower is roasting to get this meal on the table quickly.

Nutritional yeast is a form of deactivated yeast that has a lovely, nutty, cheese-like flavour and comes in a form of light yellow flakes. You can get it from most health food stores and it can be used to sprinkle over zucchini pasta or your favourite salads, in making paleo cheese and in savoury baking.

This dish is paleo, gluten-free and Whole30 friendly. If avoiding all dairy, replace ghee or butter with coconut oil or olive oil. Omit anchovies if vegetarian or if you simply hate anchovies, although they are not too strong in this dish.

This roasted cauliflower would go well with any type of meat but I’d recommend it with white meat like chicken, turkey, pork, duck or with white fish or prawns. I hope you love it!

Please note, the picture doesn’t show the full amount of the dish.

Roasted Cauliflower with White Sauce & Garlic Almonds

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews

• Author: Irena Macri
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 45 mins
• Yield: 4 1x

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Description

This is a great side dish and can be served with your favourite piece of meat or chicken. It can also be served as a main vegetarian paleo dish with an extra side on the side.

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Ingredients

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• 2 tablespoons melted ghee or coconut oil
• 1 head cauliflower, broken into florets (you can use the leaves too)
• sea salt

For the white sauce

• ⅔ cup raw and unsalted cashews, soaked in water for 4–6 hours
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon butter or ghee
• 1½ tablespoons nutritional yeast (see notes above)
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ large clove garlic, chopped
• 1½ tablespoons lemon juice
• ⅓ cup water

For the crumbs

• ⅓ cup almond flakes or silvered almonds
• 3 small anchovies, finely diced
• 1 clove garlic, finely diced
• 1 teaspoon butter or ghee
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/440°F (conventional).
2. Melt the ghee in an oven tray. Add the cauliflower, season with a few pinches of sea salt and toss through. Bake for 25–30 minutes, turning halfway through, then remove from the oven and set aside. If including cauliflower leaves, add those to the oven half way through as they don’t need as much time to roast.
3. While the cauliflower is baking, strain and rinse the cashews and place in a blender or a food processor together with the remaining sauce ingredients. Process the mixture into a smooth, thick puree, scraping the sides along the way, for 2 minutes. Smear the puree over a large platter.
4. Heat a small frying pan over medium–high heat, then add the almonds and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the anchovies and garlic and stir through until well incorporated, then add the butter or ghee and lemon juice, stir through and cook for a further 30 seconds.
5. Scatter the roasted cauliflower florets over the puree on the platter and sprinkle with the toasted almonds, anchovies and garlic.

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