Roasted Nut Butter and Garlic Cauliflower

Name: Roasted Nut Butter and Garlic Cauliflower
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 2 heads of cauliflower ½ cup of rice or oat milk 1 Tbsp peanut butter / tahini / almond butter 2-4 garlic cloves ¼ -½ tsp of salt ⅛ tsp of pepper

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This has been my favorite vegetable side dish for the past few months. It’s so simple! Think of this like a healthy, plant-based version of cauliflower cheese. Roasted Nut Butter and Garlic Cauliflower is as simple as it sounds – cauliflower coated in a blended nut butter sauce and roasted in the oven.

Kids Love It

Kids love this side dish. It makes me think if you add nut butter to any vegetable, they will love it. This dish is good for leftovers – but it tastes so good that you will probably eat all of it. Another dish that children love is this garbanzo beans in a spiced tomato sauce recipe that is from the Jewish Food Hero Cookbook.

Vegetables

Most adults and children do not eat enough vegetables. So a side dish like this Roasted Nut Butter and Garlic Cauliflower is a useful one to have in our weekly menu rotation. You can read this interview I did with an expert on plant-based nutrition to learn more about a sensible framework for our daily eating.

Roasted Nut Butter and Garlic Cauliflower Recipe Variations

Warm and cold: Adding diced cold tomatoes makes this a warm and cold salad. The acid in the tomatoes tastes so good with the cauliflower.
Add heat: add ¼ tsp of chili powder to the blender to made this more spicy
Starch: Add peeled and diced potato to make this a complete meal.
Add spices: Add ½ tsp of your favorite spice(s) to the blender. Cumin is my favorite

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Traditional baked cauliflower dishes

Think of cauliflower oven-baked in a sauce, and you probably think of cauliflower cheese. This traditional dish is made from par-boiled whole cauliflower. A white sauce made from butter, flower and milk is flavoured with grated cheese and mustard. The sauce is poured over the cauliflower and the whole thing is baked until bubbling and browned.

Delicious, but high in fat, and full of animal products. Nowadays, many people are looking for ways to enjoy those traditional dishes without consuming animal products. The bonus is that plant-based dishes are better for our bodies and leave us feeling satisfied without the sluggish feelings of having consumed high-fat meals.

This Roasted Nut Butter and Garlic Cauliflower is the modern update of traditional baked cauliflower, that we all can enjoy and feel great about.

Ingredient focus

Cauliflower is finally emerging from a period of undeserved bad reputation. Growing up, I remember cauliflower as a tasteless, soggy vegetable. But today, people are giving this ingredient the attention it deserves!

In the past, cauliflower was simply boiled until it lost all flavour and texture. Today, we are dry roasting it, lightly steaming, or grating it into a rice alternative. You can even shave it into this half-pickle half-salad recipe from Jewish Food Hero community recipe series.

Nuts and Seeds

For the sauce, any nut or seed butter will work:

Peanut butter

Almond butter

Tahini

If you don’t have nut butter on hand but you have whole nuts or seeds, you can simply place them in a high power blender with the other ingredients and blend smooth for the same creamy, rich result.

Other simple vegan recipes you might enjoy

If you like the idea of plant-based updates for favorite dishes, take a look at these recipes:

Plant-based Shepherd’s Pie – This version of plant-based shepherd’s pie celebrates vegetables in a light, springy version of a family favorite. Mushrooms give earthy, meaty texture. Cauliflower and carrot provide succulence and colour, all coated in a herby broth sauce.
Creamy Butternut Squash Risotto Recipe: This is an oil-free, dairy-free, and meat-free pareve risotto. The dish is made delicious by butternut squash and garnished with dried apricots.
Plant-based Stuffed Cabbage Rolls from the Jewish Food Hero Kitchen offer a lighter,modern update on a classic recipe. With a tangy tomato sauce and all-vegetable filling, this is a winning make-ahead family meal.