Servings: 8 Prep: 15 min Cook: 10 min Total: 25 min
If you’ve read this website for more than 5 minutes, it should be abundantly clear that I love bacon. I probably type the word 20 times a day. I LOVE the stuff, but … sometimes … it becomes all too much. What can a person do when they’re burned out on bacon? Pancetta! Pancetta is ITALIAN BACON! YUM!
This is one of those dishes that just seems so simple and basic. Just a small amount of good ingredients, properly cooked, but the whole of the blend is almost sophisticated!
In short, you sauté cauliflower in butter, until it’s nice and roasted brown. At the last minute, toss in some lemon zest, sliced Pancetta, fresh oregano, salt, pepper and grated Parmesan cheese. YUM! I served it with roasted pork and a really nice Romesco.
Roasted Cauliflower w/ Pancetta, Lemon and Parmesan
Print RateIngredients
- 1 head large cauliflower stem and leaves removed and cut into large florets
- 1/4 cup fresh whole butter (half a stick)
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon zest (peel)
- 8 slices pancetta sliced into strips
- 2 tsp fresh oregano (thyme rosemary, sage and/or marjoram), rough chop
- 1/4 cup parmesan (reggiano) cheese grated
- salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degree F.
- Place a small pot of water on the stove, to boil. Roughly a cup of water is needed.
- In a medium sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat.
- Add the cauliflower to the pan, then season with salt and pepper.
- Toss the cauliflower in the pan, to evenly coat with the melted butter.
- Place the pan in the oven to roast.
- While the cauliflower is roasting, peel the outside of a lemon with a vegetable peeler. You only want the yellow part of the rind. Do not peel too deeply and get the white part (called the "pith"). The pith is bitter. This will give you little slivers of yellow lemon rind.
- Slice the lemon rind very thin, into thin "noodles" or "strips".
- Add the lemon "noodles" to the boiling water and allow to boil for 30 seconds. This will mellow the flavor and kill off any remaining bitterness.
- Remove the lemon zest and dry on a paper towel. Discard the water.
- When the cauliflower has become soft and browned, remove it from the oven.
- Quickly toss the lemon zest, pancetta and oregano in the pan, until everything is hot and nicely blended.
- Serve and garnish with freshly grated parmesan cheese!
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Oh.My.God. this sounds totally awesome. Some of my very favorite flavors. I am pinning and going to make it this weekend. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I could kiss your bacon loving hands. Yummmmmm
Thanks, Laura! I haven’t recreated this one in a long time, but … it’s DEFINITELY a great combination. The lemon REALLY ties it all together!
Hello! I love your recipes! Thank you for sharing. So, alternatives for pancetta if you don’t eat pork?
Hi Wafa, thank you! I’m assuming that you’re just trying to avoid pork, but that you’re not vegetarian. There are a variety of options, from using easy to find turkey bacon. Cook it until crisp, chop it and add it. There are terrible turkey bacons and there are some better ones. However, I might also suggest looking into a variety of "non-pork" products, which are actually made more in the style of bacon. There are veal bacons, for example. For this, I’d go with a duck proscuitto, or a duck bacon. All of these can be found online. The proscuitto could just be added "as is", but the two bacons would need crisped up, first. I hope this helps! 🙂
It does! Thank you and keep the great recipes coming!
Howdy! Hope you’re doing well and enjoying life (post covid)!
I’ve re-read the recipe several times and think I’m overlooking how long the cauliflower stays in the oven. I know you say until it’s soft and brown but I’m dangerous in the kitchen without a timer.
Thanks a bunch!
Hiya Dee Gee! You’re right! This is one of my older recipes, and I wasn’t paying as close attention to the format. Whoops! In any event, I’d suggest about 20 minutes. A lot depends on the size and density of your florets, but 20 minutes is a decent timeframe. If the cauliflower isn’t quite soft enough, but is nice and roasty looking, you can cover it with foil and let it continue to roast until soft enough (the cover will allow it to cook, but will stop the browning process). I hope this helps!