This Is Anthony Bourdain’s Best Roasted Vegetables Recipe

Anthony Bourdain was like the guy in high school who was so cool that you couldn’t help but want them to like you. He never minced words when it came to what he saw as fakes, phonies, sell-outs and crappy food.

Unfortunately for me, he heaped his eloquent disdain on vegetarians and vegans. As he said in his book, Kitchen Confidential, “Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans… are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit.” I spent years cooking and writing about vegetarian and vegan food. Still, I read and watched everything Bourdain did; there was too much good stuff there to take it personally. I wasn’t the only veg-head paying attention.

When his other book, Appetites, came out almost two decades later, more chefs like Bourdain acknowledged that plants could be amped up and made more exciting. One recipe from the cookbook, Roasted Cauliflower With Sesame, may be a nod to that and to the food Bourdain encountered on his travels. 

Whether he meant to or not, this recipe is vegan and dispels his earlier belief that all vegan food is tasteless. He teases maximum flavor from a vegetable, and it’s worth making.

How To Make Anthony Bourdain’s Cauliflower with Sesame Seeds

Crank the oven to 450°F—Bourdain always wanted his vegetables seared in the heat. 

Take a large (3 1/2-pound) cauliflower and cut it into large-ish pieces with flat sides that can lie on the hot pan and brown dramatically. Place them on a sheet pan, drizzle with 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with two teaspoons salt, one teaspoon dried oregano, one teaspoon ground coriander, and a few grinds of pepper. Toss to coat and spread them out on the pan—make sure there is plenty of room between the pieces.

Roast for 10 minutes, then use a metal spatula to turn the pieces and roast for 10 minutes longer. It will be browned in spots and tender all the way through.

While the cauliflower roasts, mix two tablespoons of tahini, a tablespoon of white miso, and two teaspoons of red wine vinegar in a large bowl. Bourdain adds more salt to this mixture, but I think there’s already enough. When the cauliflower is done, dump them in the bowl and toss to coat.

Serve on a platter, sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds.