This maple mustard tahini roasted cauliflower is a riff on the classic flavours of honey mustard. It’s easy, delicious and presents as an epic centrepiece, especially if you carve it at the table.
Cauliflower is a star ingredient in vegan cooking, it’s easily transformed, and much like tofu, it takes on the flavours you pair with it. If cauliflower is the star of this dish, then tahini is the breakout supporting act. Tahini has a magical ability to make anything instantly creamy, which is often much needed when you’re cooking without dairy! Pair creamy tahini with sweet, nutty maple syrup and tart wholegrain mustard and you can just go ahead and drop the mic.
This tahini roasted cauliflower is super tender and delicious all the way through to the core. A whole roasted cauliflower always makes for a great centrepiece on special occasions, a delicious sub for a roast or the perfect starter to share, at a dinner party, paired with hummus and pita bread.
What do you need to know before you make this recipe?
Before whole roasting the cauliflower I recommend parboiling it to make sure the core is tender. How long you boil the cauliflower will largely depend on the size of the head. 2-3 minutes for a large head should be more than enough any longer and, the cauliflower can turn out mushy. If you’ve got a very small cauliflower, you can go straight to roasting it.
I’ve included all the notes for this maple mustard tahini roasted cauliflower recipe at the bottom of the page with the hope of improving your experience here at blue border. If you found this useful, I’d love your support on Instagram, click here to follow.
ingredients
- 1 large head cauliflower
- 1 lemon, juice only
- 45g tahini, plus extra for serving
- 1 tsp. fine sea salt
- 1 Tbsp. wholegrain mustard
- 1 Tbsp. maple syrup
- 3 Tbsp. water
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- olive oil, for drizzling
process
Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to the boil and preheat the oven to 200C.
Trim the outer leaves from the cauliflower and the base of the core. Save the tender innermost cauliflower leaves and set them aside. Place the cauliflower in the pot, cover with a lid and parboil for 2-3 minutes (do not boil for longer or the cauliflower will turn out mushy). Place the cauliflower on a cooling rack until it’s cool enough to handle.
Combine the lemon juice, tahini, salt, mustard, maple syrup, water and garlic and mix until smooth.
Turn the cauliflower upside down and pour 1-2 tablespoons of the tahini marinade into the core, giving it a gentle shake to coat some of the inner florets with marinade. Place the cauliflower right side up on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and use a pastry brush to cover the cauliflower with half of the remaining tahini marinade.
Roast for 10mins and brush the remaining marinade over the cauliflower, turn the baking tray around and roast for another 10-15mins.
Toss the cauliflower leaves with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt and add them to the baking tray 2-3 minutes before removing the cauliflower from the oven.
Pour a little tahini over your serving plate, place the cauliflower on top and arrange the roasted cauliflower leaves at the base of the cauliflower head.
NOTES: Maple Mustard Tahini Roasted Cauliflower
Recipe Notes
Tahini
Not all tahini is created equally! The best tahini should be pourable, incredibly smooth and has a very neutral, slightly salty taste. Anything that is thick and pasty or tastes liked toasted sesame should be vehemently avoided. The best place to find decent tahini is a Middle Eastern Grocery store. I always look for the Lebanese SH Yaman tahini or the Al Nakhil tahini.
Mustard
Whole grain mustard is mild and full of zingy flavour which makes it perfect for this dish, but you can sub it for dijon mustard instead if you don’t have it. English mustard would be too strong for this recipe and doesn’t have the right flavour profile. Likewise, I don’t recommend American mustard as it doesn’t have quite the right flavour.
Other suggestions for this recipe
- This maple mustard tahini sauce/marinade is delicious on its own and makes an incredible salad dressing or dipping sauce.
- If you’d rather not roast a whole cauliflower, cut it into florets, toss in half the maple mustard tahini marinade, drizzle with a little oil and roast for 10-15mins. Add the remaining marinade and roast for another 10mins.
1 comment
Appreciate the recommendation. Will try it out.
Comments are closed.