Roasted Cauliflower with Ras el Hanout Tahini Sauce

Roasted Cauliflower with Ras el Hanout Tahini Sauce

This recipe in Vegetarian Times (June 2012) caught my eye because I have a jar of Tahini that I keep on hand for hummus, but would like to use it more often. 

I purchase this brand at Kroger.

As is often the case with my recipe choice for the evening, I had cauliflower that I needed to use up, so this recipe was perfect!

The only issue was I had no idea what Ras el Hanout was, so I googled it.

It's a Moroccan spice blend, and that intrigued Brennan.  I took a chance that our Spice/Vinegar/Olive Oil specialty shop might have it, but she did not.

So we found the recipe online here, and I put Brennan in charge of making the spice blend.

Ras el hanout means "top of the shop" in Arabic, meaning that the vendor's top spices would go into this mixture.  According to research online, every chef has his/her own ras el hanout recipe with 10-100 spices in the mix. 

I then cleaned and chopped the cauliflower into florets and coated it with olive oil, tahini, and ras el hanout.  Then I roasted the coated cauliflower at 400* for 20 minutes.

While the cauliflower was cooking I made the Tahini Sauce from tahini, lemon juice, and more ras el hanout. 

Just before serving, you drizzle the sauce over the cauliflower and garnish with lemon wedges.

We liked this dish, except for Brennan.

He likes cauliflower a lot and I think the flavors took away the cauliflower flavor (which is OK for some!)

This is a dish the rest of the family would like to have again though.

One note - the Tahini Sauce that you drizzle on top as you're plating is not necessary, but it's good.

If you just coated the cauliflower in the olive oil, tahini, and ras el hanout before roasting it, I think that would be enough flavor.  Maybe a little sprinkle of lemon juice. 

Double click to print as a 5x7 recipe card.

بالهنا والشفا

(Arabic for Bon Appetit!)