Years ago I discovered Heidi Swanson’s recipe for pan-friend beans with kale, which is crazy good, even if you use canned butter beans like I do, and I highly recommend. I went through a period when I made it all the time (I ate it for lunch, I ate it with eggs, I even ate it with pasta), but then I guess the seasons changed and I kinda forgot about it. Until, that is, I saw Smitten Kitchen’s Roasted Cabbage with Walnuts and Parmesan, which I bookmarked several months ago because it was so beautiful and looked like my dream dinner. The recipe reminded me of the bean recipe I love, and I realized there’s a theme here: the lemon-walnut flavor profile.

I never actually did make the Smitten Kitchen recipe (I don’t know if it’s Covid or just Denver, but I kind of had to give up on finding Savoy cabbage). I was going to try it with regular green cabbage or Napa cabbage, but neither seemed quite right, so I veered from the “warm salad” concept of Deb’s recipe to more of a “nutty, toasty side dish” by making her dressing for roasted cauliflower instead of cabbage. It was so good I was dreaming about it the next day, and I made it for dinner for myself one night when I was home alone. And then I made it again (this time I got smart and made a double batch) to go with some boring baked chicken thighs, and everyone was freaking out about how good it was. While I always love me some roasted cauliflower, it’s the robust lemon-walnut dressing that really makes the dish.

The combination of lemons and walnuts (and a little parm) is going to be good on just about anything (trust me — since my original experiments, I’ve tried it with everything from warm pitas to grilled zucchini to baked cod fillets). Feel free to dump it over: a salad, a pan of fried canned beans, roasted vegetables, artichokes, pasta, and definitely boring baked chicken thighs.

Lemon-Walnut Dressing (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
Ingredients
3 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
1/2 cup walnut halves and pieces
1 large garlic clove
1 lemon
Red pepper flakes
Grated parmesan, to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place nuts on a small tray or baking dish and roast for 4–5 mins. Remove from oven and scatter nuts onto a cutting board and coarsely chop them while they’re still hot. Scoop into a bowl. Using a microplane or cheese grater, grate the zest of half the lemon and the garlic over the warm nuts. Add olive oil, a pinch of salt, and red pepper flakes, and stir to combine. Set aside to let it infuse as it cools. When ready, squeeze the juice of half the lemon in and stir to combine. Adjust flavors to taste, adding more lemon or salt if needed. Spoon over any food and top with grated parmesan.