Cauliflower with Pepitas, Brown Butter, and Lime
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Who has difficulty choosing a vegetable side dish at meal time? Anyone? This is the hardest part of the meal for me. I’m good with picking out a protein and a starch but when it comes to a vegetable my choices are limited. I make salad, roasted vegetables, balsamic green beans, or stir fried vegetables.
I have a hard time thinking up recipes using vegetables that are flavor and delicious. Whenever I get my cooking magazines in the mail I scour them for vegetable recipes. I often don’t find recipes I like because I’m a little bit picky when it comes to vegetables. There are several I can eat but I don’t like much (I’m looking at you Brussels Sprouts and Asparagus) and they seem to be pretty popular.
I did find an unusual recipe in Bon Appetit magazine a few months ago. It was for cauliflower which is one of my favorite cooked vegetables. The recipe called for it to be roasted and tossed with pumpkin seeds, brown butter, and lime. Now I’m the type of girl who will eat just about anything with brown butter so I was game to try it even though I wasn’t sure about the pairing of flavors.
The cauliflower is roasted in the oven. While it’s roasted the butter and pumpkin seeds and cooked on the stove top. The pumpkin seeds turn brown and crisp as the butter browns which adds a nice salty flavor. Then lime juice and red pepper flakes are added in.
The cauliflower dish is really pretty when it’s finished. The brown butter with pumpkin seeds is drizzled over top of the cauliflower and then cilantro is sprinkled on top. It’s a lot of different flavors coming together but it’s really tasty. The pumpkin seeds add a nice crunch while the lime adds a bit of zest to the dish.
Cauliflower with Pumpkin Seeds, Brown Butter, and Lime
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 head cauliflower cut into florets
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons salt butter
- 1/4 c. pepitas shelled pumpkin seeds
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 Tablespoon lime juice
- 1/4 c. cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Pour 1 tablespoon olive oil on a baking dish. Place the cauliflower florets on the baking dish. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning the cauliflower halfway through baking.
- Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add in the pumpkin seeds and cook, swirling pan occasionally, until the butter is browned. This will take 6-8 minutes.
- Remove from heat and add the garlic, red pepper flakes, and lime juice and stir.
- Arrange the cauliflower on a platter and drizzle with the brown butter and pumpkin seeds. Sprinkle with cilantro.
Notes
