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Toasty, caramelized cauliflower, jammy grapes, and tangy yogurt sauce make this side dish a star.
There’s nothing like a nor’easter to knock down a few trees, cut your power, and take your wifi to make you realize how deeply tied to technology you are. We lost power over the weekend and just had wifi and cable restored today. Everyday without it took a little piece of my teen’s soul (and okay, mine too if I’m being honest).
While he missed Fortnite, I missed most of the Oscars and had to impose myself on a friend to watch the Bachelor season finale. No, this was not a proud moment, but I couldn’t miss the “most shocking finale ever!” As much as I love tv, I convinced myself that it wasn’t necessary to my survival. I thought it was “a nice to have”, that I’d be just as happy reading or cooking or whatever-ing. Well, after five days of pop culture withdrawal (punctuated with some time catching up at friends’ houses) I definitely started to twitch.
As if missing the second half of the Oscars (the only half worth watching) wasn’t bad enough, The Walking Dead returned from its winter break, Survivor came back, and apparently Bravo kept on airing shows without even giving a second thought to the fact that I couldn’t watch. Harumph.
But thankfully everything is up and running again and not a moment too soon. Nor’easter part deux has descended and we’re currently being blanketed under a heavy, wet snow. School is closed, the roads are messy, and we are on lock down. Fingers crossed that the power stays on this time because  I’m pretty sure I would need a vat of Calgon and pile of anti-depressants to get through another storm without heat, light and yes, tv.
Since we’re going nowhere anytime soon I’m planning to head into the kitchen to cook my little heart out. The power outage forced me to purge almost everything from both refrigerators and freezers (I seriously almost wept when tossing my carefully wrapped and labeled tart and cookie doughs that were made last week) so I don’t have a lot of reserves to fall back on. I usually keep a stash of compound butters, crumbles, doughs, and dressings on hand for easy dinner or dessert prep so now it’s back to square one. But in some ways I’m kind of happy for a clean slate. I’ll think of it as an early spring cleaning.
So even though the mother nature has her feet firmly planted in the snow, my tastebuds are thinking spring. I’m craving lighter, brighter, vegetable forward dishes like risotto with spring peas, colorful salads, and asparagus soup topped with lemon creme fraiche. Today’s recipe for roasted cauliflower has toasty spices, sweet grapes and a drizzle of lemony yogurt sauce. The caramelized cauliflower makes this a hearty enough side dish to stand up to this cold and stormy March day and that tangy sauce wakes up the palate and makes me think of the warmer spring days ahead. And they can’t get here a moment too soon!
Toasty, caramelized cauliflower, jammy grapes, and tangy yogurt sauce make this side dish a star.
- 1 head of cauliflower cut into florets
- 1 lb seedless red grapes
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp fresh mint, minced + 1 tsp fresh mint, minced for garnish
- 1 cup greek yogurt
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tsp fresh mint, minced
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- dash of freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp dried minced garlic
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
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Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment.
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Place the cauliflower florets and grapes in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, seasonings and mint.
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Pour the olive oil mixture over the cauliflower and grapes and toss well to coat. Spread on the prepared sheet pan and roast in the oven for 25 - 30 mins until browned and the grapes have burst.
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Whisk all of the ingredients together until smooth.
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Drizzle the roasted cauliflower and grapes with the yogurt sauce and sprinkle with fresh mint if desired.
Geralyn says
Yum.
Cathy says
🙂