Cauliflower with Brown Butter and Lemons

We spent the last few weeks traveling to New York City and back and then to southern New Hampshire and back. I photographed the streets of Manhattan and prowled around grocery stores in Plaistow for cream-topped coconut milk.

We’ve sampled food from a dozen or so restaurants including Massaman Curry, Turkish breakfast platters with over-easy eggs, olives, and triple cream and feta cheeses, cherry and pistachio baklava, Pinkberry’s green tea yogurt topped with blueberries and animal crackers.

All were memorable, yet left me craving one dish I often make at home, a heaping bowl of tender cooked cauliflower.



The cauliflower is blanched in salted water then served warm with a pour of brown butter and a squeeze of lemon juice along with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. As a side dish, this recipe serves four to six people. If you happen to like to eat an entire head of cauliflower, then call it dinner for one, possibly two.



Oh, I almost forgot. Since I’ve been coming up with road trip playlists, I also made one for brown butter cauliflower, it should you through prep-work to cleanup.



A Playlist for Cauliflower with Brown Butter and Lemons

1. Girls Against Boys: Cruise Yourself, “Tucked-In”

2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It’s Blitz (Instrumental Versions), “Skeletons (Instrumental)”

3. Tom Waits: Rain Dogs, “Cemetery Polka”

4. Elmore James: The Sky Is Crying, “Shake Your Moneymaker”

5. Stereolab: Sound-Dust, “Naught More Terrific Than Man”

6. Louis Armstrong: The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings (Disc 4), “Don’t Jive Me”

7. The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, “Approaching Pavonis Mons By Balloon”

8. Le Quintette Du Hot Clube de France: Django Reinhardt: The Classic Early Recordings (Disc 4), “Sweet Chorus”

9. Built To Spill: Odds & Ends, “Kicked It In the Sun”

10. Syd Barrett: The Madcap Laughs, “Long Gone”

Enjoy.

Cauliflower with Brown Butter and Lemons
Yields 4 to 6 servings

1 head of cauliflower
boiling salted water
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter
sea salt
fresh-ground black pepper
juice of 1/2 lemon

Wash and cut the cauliflower florets into bite-size pieces, and blanch them in boiling salted water for 4 minutes. Drain. Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat until it turns light brown. Remove from heat right away and pour the brown butter over the cooked cauliflower. Season with salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice; serve warm.