Jerk Buttered Cauliflower with Watermelon Salad

Recipe by Anina's Recipes

Cauliflower lovers, beware! You will love this recipe of Jerk Buttered Cauliflower with Watermelon Salad. This one is an absolute winner and is packed with incredible flavours. It is an amazing vegetarian, low carb meal that features Kerrygold Butter, a whole lot of spice, versatile cauliflower and refreshing watermelon.

What is Jerk Seasoning?

Now, you might want to know what on Earth this Jerk seasoning is.  It is a cooking method where a combination of hot and hearty spices is used to dry rub either meat or veggies.  Originated from Jamaica, the meat or veg is then cooked over slow heat until perfectly cooked. The main ingredients in this spice mix is garlic, thyme, allspice and scotch bonnet peppers. You can either make a wet spice rub by grinding and preparing the mix from fresh ingredients.  Or you could go the easier route by simply using a combo of dried, ground spices.

Flavoured Butter

I used dry and ground spices for this recipe, and decided to incorporate the spice mix into my softened Kerrygold Butter.  The result? An intensely spicy, flavoured butter, that can be easily stored in the fridge.  Use it on any and all roasts, for a burst of flavour and goodness.

How To Make Jerk Buttered Cauliflower

With my flavoured butter ready, I placed sliced cauliflower florets (or you can cut cauli “steaks”) in an oven safe dish. I covered these yummy morsels with the softened jerk butter. I slow cooked it in the oven and basted the cauliflower with more of the jerk butter throughout the cooking process. Once your jerk cauliflower are roasty and soft, dish up and serve it with fresh watermelon (it’s pretty much a match made in heaven) and an onion and herb salsa. Top tip: Add loads of lime zest to cut through the spice.

1. In a mixing bowl, combine all the spice ingredients and mix well.
2. Add the softened Kerrygold butter to the spice mix and incorporate it into the butter.
3. Divide the flavoured butter into two. One half can be wrapped in plastic wrap and kept in the fridge to use throughout the week. Keep the other half for the cauliflower.
4. Once the cauliflower head has been cut and prepped, arrange them in an oven safe dish. Massage the flavoured jerk butter into the cauliflower.
5. Roast in an oven at 190 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes. Remove and baste the cauliflower with more spiced butter. Place back in the oven for another 15 minutes.
6. Once the cauliflower has roasted for 30 minutes, remove from oven and give them a turn. Add more flavoured butter if needed. Turn up the heat to 200 degrees Celsius and roast the cauliflower for a final 10 minutes.
7. Prep the watermelon salad by slicing the watermelon in slices. Mix the finely chopped red onion with the mint. Set aside.
8. Remove the cauliflower from the oven and sprinkle with lime zest before serving it with the watermelon, and onion and herb salsa. Serve immediately and enjoy.