Description
Golden roasted cauliflower and creamy melted feta cheese baked over a bed of quick, homemade chunky tomato sauce with exotic middle eastern flavors.
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 1/2 T olive oil (divided)
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into bite size florets
- 1 medium yellow onion, quartered and thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (not minced, or the pieces will burn)
- 1 1/2 t dried oregano, or 1 T chopped fresh oregano leaves
- 1/8 t ground cinnamon
- 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes, no salt added or low sodium, mostly drained
- 1 t honey
- 1 T capers, drained and rinsed
- Kosher or sea salt
- Ground black pepper
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
- Chopped fresh parsley, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F) and lightly oil a 9 inch pie plate.
- Prepare water and a steamer basket in a medium saucepan. When water simmers vigorously, add cauliflower, cover, and maintain a simmer. Steam about 10 minutes, or until just tender–neither crunchy nor falling apart. While cauliflower steams, start preparing the tomato sauce.
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 10 inch skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, dried oregano (if using fresh, add with tomatoes), and cinnamon. Stir and cook until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes (and fresh oregano, if using) and simmer until slightly reduced, stirring often, 7 or 8 minutes. Add honey and capers, simmer for another 30 seconds, then remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread tomato sauce in the pie plate.
- Arrange cauliflower over tomato sauce, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle with lemon juice. Cover with foil and bake about 15 minutes, until cauliflower is very tender and the sauce bubbles. Remove foil, sprinkle feta over the top, and broil 3 to 5 minutes near the broiler (watching it carefully), until feta and cauliflower are beginning to brown. Garnish with parsley and scoop onto plates to serve. Servings needn’t look perfect–it tastes best when everything gets stirred up together on the plate!
Notes
Recipe is vegetarian and gluten-free. To make it vegan, omit feta (you might try adding a bit of nutritional yeast to the tomato sauce) and substitute maple syrup for honey. Maple syrup may taste more sweet than honey, so start with 1/2 teaspoon.
Adapted from The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, as part of my gratin chapter cook-through.
The bake can be assembled ahead of time (probably up to a couple days). Extend cook time until everything is heated through.
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Cuisine: Vegetarian