---
title: Pizzeria Delfina's Spicy Cauliflower | Award-Winning Paleo Recipes
date: 2012-07-26T01:08:23Z
source: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/11861165935/pizzeria-delfinas-spicy-cauliflower
tags: recipes

---

![][1]

I miss [Pizzeria Delfina][2] something fierce. Once upon a time, our carb-addicted family visited the joint once a month, gorging on pizzas and inventive, lusty veggie accompaniments — but it's been over a year-and-a-half since we last broke bread there. Now that we're Paleo, I'm not sure if/when we'll be back.

One of my favorite side dishes at Delfina was their spicy cauliflower appetizer — the florets were fried until golden and crunchy on the outside and tossed with pepper flakes, garlic, capers, and bread crumbs.

I found the [original recipe][3] online and made this dish tonight with a few tweaks to make it Paleo-friendly. The dish was just how I remembered — toasty, tender, spicy, and piquant.

**Here's what I gathered to feed four people:**

* 1 large cauliflower
* 1/4 cup coconut oil
* Kosher salt
* 1/4 cup capers, drained
* 1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
* 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced lengthwise
* 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (or red pepper flakes)

**Here's how I made it:**

I grabbed a head of cauliflower…

![][4]

…and trimmed around the core to release the florets.

![][5]

I heated the coconut oil in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat and when it was shimmering, I dropped in the cauliflower along with a generous sprinkle of salt. 

![][6]

(Make sure the cauliflower isn't overcrowded — fry in two batches if you must!)

While the cauliflower browned in the skillet, I sliced the garlic, measured the capers…

![][7]

…and chopped the parsley.

![][8]

I kept flipping the florets to make sure they were brown all over (8-10 minutes total). 

Once the cauliflower was toasty, I tossed the capers, parsley, and garlic in the pan and stir-fried everything until the garlic was browned. As a final step, I threw in the Aleppo pepper and adjusted the seasoning with additional salt.

![][9]

See? Cauliflower is so damn versatile!

[1]: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltjxdoghYg1qdei8m.jpg
[2]: http://pizzeriadelfina.com/
[3]: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/29/FDGPCMKAKN1.DTL
[4]: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltjxaloUbY1qdei8m.jpg
[5]: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lre9ksvcOP1qdei8m.jpg
[6]: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltjxbxXEo71qdei8m.jpg
[7]: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltjxa2MEwd1qdei8m.jpg
[8]: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltjxb5YTug1qdei8m.jpg
[9]: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltjxcweB1x1qdei8m.jpg