Roasted Cauliflower and Pesto-Marinated Chicken

Last month, I absolutely fell in love with a simple preparation for roasted broccoli.  In fact, Bret did too and I've never seen him so excited about a side vegetable dish!  After Bret's enthusiasm for my roasted broccoli, I decided to give roasted cauliflower a try last night.  I decided to do a very similar preparation that was super easy and flavorful.

First, I pre-heated the oven to 425 degrees.  Before I got to the cauliflower, I first got to work on my protein.  I sliced up two boneless chicken breasts into chicken finger size and marinated it with half a tin of Pestos with Panache's Fabulous Fig and Gorgonzola pesto and a few tablespoons of olive oil.

While the chicken was marinating, I washed a head of cauliflower and chopped the florets off.

I tossed the florets in a large bowl with a few tablespoons of butter-infused olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder - the same seasonings I used for the roasted broccoli.  This time, however, I also added a few tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese that I had leftover from my blogger inspired turkey en croute.

I lined a baking tray with aluminum foil and gave it a quick spray of cooking spray.  I put the cauliflower on the tray in a single layer.

I put the cauliflower on the middle rack for fifteen minutes and allowed the cauliflower to roast.  While the cauliflower was roasting, I put the chicken fingers in a shallow baking pan and also put that on the middle rack with the tray of cauliflower.

After fifteen minutes, I took the tray of cauliflower out and turned all of the florets over so that both sides would get a nice roasted color and texture.  I put the tray back in the oven for another fifteen minutes on the bottom rack.

Like the roasted broccoli, the roasted cauliflower was a big hit.  Again, it had that nice rich buttery flavor and the Parmesan cheese definitely added to the dish!  The texture of the roasted cauliflower was nice - crispy and not mushy.

The chicken was so flavorful from the sweet fig and tangy gorgonzola pesto.  The chicken was so moist and it was the perfect simple dinner for a Monday night.

Tell me, what is your favorite vegetable to roast?