Roasted curried cauliflower with sesame

Yesterday my brother’s murderer was sentenced to 25 years in prison. I sat in the courtroom, listened to the final statements, and heard the judge pronounce the sentence. He told the killer that it didn’t matter what good he had done before in his life (he used to be a Baltimore City cop) that his life was henceforth defined by what he did on April 3, 2011. We saw the murderer taken away in his prison jumpsuit with shackles around his ankles. But it gave none of us joy, no sense of victory. There were no high-fives, no cheers, just the sadness of having seen something tragic unfold. Was it justice? I don’t know. All I know is that I’ll never see my brother again and that breaks my heart.

I promised I would cook something, anything, when it was over. I haven’t yet tried to recreate (and write down!) the great spicy tangled Thai salad I made a couple of weeks ago. I will, I will—I just need someone to help me eat that one. So today I tried out a recipe that has been floating around in my head. I like how it turned out and will make it again, surely with other variations. Next time I will probably up the spice factor by using hot curry powder. You could serve it hot but I like the idea of serving it as a muchie/appetizer at room temperature.

 Here’s what I did today . . .

 Roasted curried cauliflower with sesame

1 medium-size head of cauliflower

2 tablespoons EVOO

1 tablespoon dark roasted sesame seed oil

1 teaspoon curry powder

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Break cauliflower into florets, rinse and drain.

Toss florets in bowl, coating evenly with olive oil, sesame oil, curry powder, salt, and pepper.

Put florets on shallow baking sheet in 450 degree oven.

Roast for 10 minutes.

Add sesame seeds, toss mixture, and bake for another 5 minutes. The florets should maintain a bit of their crunchiness.

Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.