Brooklyn Supper's Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic Dip with Toasted Pepitas
Original recipe at brooklynsupper.com. My version makes extra roasted cauliflower to use as nextovers or a side dish for dinner.
Prep Time 30minutes
Cook Time 25minutes
Total Time 55minutes
Servings 6
Ingredients
8cupscauliflower floretschopped into bite-size pieces
2heads of garlicbroken into cloves, skin left on and root end trimmed
6tablespoonsgood olive oil plus 1-2 extra teaspoons finishing olive oildivided
2teaspoonsfreshly squeezed lemon juiceabout half of a lemon
1/2teaspoonfreshly grated nutmeg
6tablespoonspepitasbuy them already roasted and salted at Whole Foods or other high-end grocery store
2-3tablespoonsfresh parsleyminced
Sea salt
Finishing salttry a meyer lemon infused sea salt
Cayenne pepperto taste
Whole-grain pita chipsfor serving
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425°F and prepare two sheet pans lined with aluminum foil for easy clean up.
Arrange cauliflower on pans, evenly split between the two. Add garlic cloves, evenly split between the two sheets. Drizzle each sheet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle generously with sea salt.
Toss each batch, taking a moment to "tuck" the garlic cloves behind the florets where you can, as they will cook a bit faster than the cauliflower and are prone to burning.
Roast the cauliflower for about 40 minutes, flipping and rotating the sheets halfway through, until florets are just beginning to brown. Set aside to cool.
When cool to the touch, squeeze the roasted garlic out of its paper and onto the cauliflower.
Throw one sheet pan's worth into the storage container of your choice [I love glass Snapware] and use for lunch, side dish, or snack during the week.
Put the contents of the second sheet pan into your food processor bowl and pulse for a few rounds to mix the cauliflower and garlic. Add 3 tablespoons of the pepitas, the lemon juice, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper [I used about 1/8 teaspoon].
With the food processor running, add 4 tablespoons of olive oil [you can add more or less to adjust the texture of the dip - I thought 4 was the perfect level of creamy]. Taste and add additional salt, cayenne or lemon juice as needed.
Spoon dip into a wide serving bowl. As I did not add additional salt in the processing phase, I added finishing salt here.
Drizzle with 1-2 teaspoons of your best finishing olive oil. Sprinkle the remaining pepitas and parsley on top. A dash of cayenne pepper sprinkled on top for color also signals it as an ingredient to guests. Serve with dipping agent of your choice.