I have a sort of love-hate affair going on with cauliflower and I am not the only one in our family. None of my kids like it and my husband always objects when I suggest to prepare something with cauliflower in it. He does eat it though and usually likes the end result. All of this does not stop me from trying out new ways to prepare cauliflower, because at the end of the day it is a pretty looking vegetable!

So this time I roasted it (after blanching it for 4 minutes) at 200℃. I placed the cauliflower in a baking dish together with a mixture of olive oil, black pepper and fennel powder. I added a splash of water to get the cauliflower tender, not too much otherwise you do not get the roasting result. The cauliflower is done when it is tender enough for you (be sure to check every now and then if there is enough water so it can become tender and not burned). It took me approximately 25 minutes.

Meanwhile I mixed a handful of hazelnuts in olive oil, cayenne pepper and black pepper and roasted them for 10 minutes at 180℃.

I cooked the Puy lentils for 15 minutes (remember if you want to add salt, add after the lentils are cooked, this way you prevent them from becoming tough!)

I sliced a red onion.

When done I mixed everything gently in a dish, added some freshly crushed black pepper and served it.

The fennel did its work, it gave the cauliflower a special sweet taste and the spicy hazelnuts combined perfectly with that. As far as I am concerned Puy lentils combine good with almost anything, so I really enjoyed this dinner. It was very tasty and I am pretty sure that it will be good as well if served as a cold salad!