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Brown Butter Roasted Cauliflower

August 09, 2019

This is a simple and incredibly tasty dish that takes some time but is fairly hands off during the process. The cauliflower can be a side dish to a protein, or it is hearty enough to be a vegetarian entree for a meal.

The basic recipe is from Michael Ruhlman’s classic Ruhlman’s Twenty cookbook, but after having a similar preparation at Momofuku Ssam bar where they paired it with a tangy vinaigrette sauce, I’ve started to incorporate a similar mustard sauce into the preparation when I make it at home.

  • 8 servings
  • 10 mins
  • 90 mins
  • 100 mins

    • Ingredients

    • 1 head cauliflower, washed with green leaves removed and stem trimmed
    • 4 Tablespoons butter, softened
    • 1 Tablespoon sherry vinegar
    • 1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
    • canola oil

    Equipment

    Instructions

    1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
    2. Drizzle a little bit of canola oil on top of the head of cauliflower in the cast iron skillet. Place the skillet into the preheated oven for 45 minutes.
    3. After 45 minutes, remove the cauliflower from the oven- it should begin to be browning.
    4. Coat the top of the cauliflower head in the softened butter and top with a healthy amount of sea salt.
    5. Return the cast iron to the oven for an additional 15 minutes.
    6. Angle the pan and use a metal spoon to baste the cauliflower with some of the collected melted butter. You can optionally add aromatics at this step like a sprig of thyme leaves.
    7. Return the cast iron to the oven for a final 15 minutes.
    8. Remove the cast iron from the oven and turn the oven off.
    9. Baste the cauliflower head again with the melted butter from the pan.
    10. Transfer the cauliflower head to a wire rack to rest.
    11. Add the sherry vinegar to the butter collected in the bottom of the cast iron pan and use a small whisk to incorporate. Add the butter/sherry mix to a small bowl with the dijon mustard and whisk to make a thickened sauce.
    12. Serve the cauliflower in wedges on a plate with a dollop of the mustard sauce.

    This recipe was adapted from:

    Michael Ruhlman

    Roasted Cauliflower with Brown Butter
    Ruhlman.com

    Max Ng

    Fried Cauliflower & Perigord Black Truffles with Brown Butter Vinaigrette
    Momofuku Ssam Bar

      Written by Will Chiong who lives and works in New York building useful things.