There’s a time for long and complicated cooking, and there’s a time for quick, pretty and tasty. This is the latter. It’s embarassing to call this a recipe since it’s more a quick assemblage of a variety of different parts – or a technique if you will – but it delivers a vegetable side in no time without a ton of ingredients nor time. Great as a snack, it also presents well be it for family or friends.

Yield : as much or as little as you make, scale your quantities up or down as desired

What you need :

• cauliflower cut into very large florets
• toasted pistachio butter (the recipe also tastes great with toasted almond butter, toasted cashew butter, toasted walnut butter or toasted pine nut butter – it’s just much less colourful)
• Dijon mustard or balsamic vinegar (optional)
• salt and pepper
• water
• dukkah, zaatar, crumbled toasted seaweed or another spice blend you like to sprinkle on everything (for garnish)

What you do :

1. Set up a steaming apparatus that will accomodate the size of your cauliflower mega-florets. Steam the cauliflower until tender-crisp (or to your liking, just make sure it still holds together and can be cut through).
2. While the cauliflower is steaming make the sauce. In a small bowl, put a good dolop of nut butter. If desired add Dijon mustard or balsamic vinegar to taste. You could also add a bit of fresh or powdered garlic, some minced fresh herbs or a bit of spice if you’d rather. Mix well. Now thin the nut butter mixture with water to desired consistency – go for thick but pourable . If you feel for a sweeter sauce, you can use a little juice to thin things out instead of the water. Check the salt and acid balance adding as required (use a splash of lemon juice or vinegar if you need a bit of acid).
3. When ready, stand the cooked cauliflower up in a serving dish and drizzle with the nut sauce. Add some freshly cracked black pepper and sprinkle with the spice or seaweed blend of choice to garnish.
4. Dig in.