Roasted Cauliflower in Italian Sausage and Fennel Bolognese

You will need a large pot for this. This is a 1-pot meal. We use a 7-quart Dutch oven.

1. Preheat oven to 475 F.
2. Add the oil into the Dutch oven over medium heat on the stove.
3. When the oil is hot, add sausage meat and brown.
4. Remove sausage from Dutch oven and set aside. Return Dutch oven to stove, adding more oil if needed, and increase to medium high heat. Add onions, stirring regularly to caramelize. When the onions are about halfway done, add chopped fennel bulb and the anise seed, and continue to stir frequently until the onions are done.
5. Add celery, carrots and fennel stems. Continue to stir regularly until carrots have softened a bit. (Don’t cook them all the way through, as they still have plenty of cooking to do in the oven!)
6. Remove pot from heat. Add sausage, tomato puree, tomato paste, zucchini, 1/2 of the chopped garlic, chopped parsley stalks, crushed red pepper, Italian seasoning, lemon zest, bay leaf, and an inch or so of anchovy paste. Mix all ingredients well. Salt and pepper to taste. The sauce may seem quite thick at this stage, but while it’s in the oven, the vegetables will release a lot of moisture, making the consistency more like a marinara sauce.
7. Press the whole cauliflower (stem side down) into the sauce. About half the cauliflower should be covered in sauce and half uncovered.
8. Drizzle the cauliflower with olive oil and rub to coat evenly. Place a lid or foil over the pot, and put in the oven for about 30 minutes.
9. Check cauliflower with a fork, and when it starts to become tender, remove the lid, and return pot to the oven for another 20-30 minutes. Remove when the cauliflower is completely tender and golden brown. You can finish it under a broiler to crisp the top a touch if you’d like. Squeeze lemon over the cauliflower and sprinkle remaining garlic over the sauce.
10. Cut whole cauliflower into 6-8 sections like a pie. Ladle sauce and cauliflower into bowls. It’s quite an impressive looking dish, so impress the family or friends and plop the whole Dutch oven down on the dinner table and serve from there. Top with chopped parsley leaves and fennel fronds and enjoy!