Inspiration from Ottolenghi
This roasted cauliflower with herbed tahini sauce is a version of a recipe in Ottolenghi’s cookbook, ‘Simple‘.
I was lucky to visit his Notting Hill deli one cold, wet December day last year, and then his restaurant Nopi while on a post HSC trip to the UK with my daughter.
I have a collection of his cookbooks and I often peruse their pages for inspiration. His flavoursome vegetable dishes are just the kind of food that I like to eat.
The origin of tahini
Tahini originates from the Arabic tahina, from tahana , meaning “to grind or crush.”
Sesame oil was used both as a food and a medicine in the ancient Middle East.
Tahini features prominently in Middle-Eastern cooking. particularly Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan in the Levant region.
It’s also used in South-East Asian, Central Asian and African cooking.
What is tahini made of?
Tahini is made from hulled sesame seeds, oil and sometimes a small amount of salt.
The sesame seeds are typically roasted before being ground into a smooth paste, resulting in a smooth, creamy paste.
Herbed tahini sauce: serving suggestions
This herbed tahini sauce tastes delicious drizzled over roasted vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli and carrots.
Serve it warm alongside grilled fish or meat.
Toss in a tin of drained chickpeas and serve it cold with extra herbs on top.
It also works well as a dip with crudités.
Thin the sauce with a little water and lemon juice and use is as a salad dressing. It’s delicious with green beans, or tossed into boiled baby potatoes.
More cauliflower dishes
If you’re a fan of cauliflower, you might like to try these dishes:
Roasted cauliflower with almond sauce
Cauliflower, walnut and pomegranate salad
Best wishes,
Amanda
PS: If you’ve tried this roasted cauliflower with herbed tahini sauce or any other recipe from At Amanda’s Table, please let me know how it turned out in the comments below.
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Roasted Cauliflower with Herbed Tahini Sauce
Ingredients
- 160 g tahini
- 25 g mint leaves about 1 cup
- 25 g Italian parsley leaves about 1 cup
Green Tahini Sauce
- 160 g tahini
- 25 g mint leaves about 1 cup
- 25 g Italian parsley leaves about 1 cup
- 1/4 cup lemon juice about 2 lemons
- 1/4 cup water
- 2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
- sea salt and black pepper to taste,
Roasted Cauliflower
- 1 large cauliflower
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- sea salt, to serve
- 1 lemon, to serve
Instructions
Green Tahini Sauce
- Blend all the ingredients together in a large bowl with a hand-held blender until a smooth pouring consistency. If it's too thick, add a little water. If it's too thin, add a little more tahini.
- Season to taste. Add more lemon juice if you like.
- Store in a clean jar in the fridge for up to a week.
Roasted Cauliflower
- Preheat the oven to 200℃ and line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Cut through the centre stem of the cauliflower into quarters. Then cut across the quarters into small wedges. Keep both the core and the leaves as they will roast nicely, too.
- Drizzle with a little olive oil and arrange flat on the tray. Roast for 30 - 40 minutes until the cauliflower is a little blackened on the edges and soft when pierced with a sharp knife.
- Arrange on a platter, sprinkle a little sea salt on top. Then drizzle with herbed tahini sauce, garnish with extra herbs and serve extra sauce and lemon wedges on the side if you wish. Serve either warm or cold.
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