Baked cauliflower with Feta and tomato sauce

I've enjoyed this several times recently so I thought it worthwhile to make a permanent note.

Kounoupithi (Baked Cauliflower With Feta and Tomato Sauce)

This recipe is copied from here with my added comments.

Ingredients

* 4 tablespoons olive oil
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 large yellow onion, chopped
* 30 ounces Italian plum tomatoes
* 1 bay leaf
* 2 teaspoons dried Greek oregano
* 2 inches cinnamon sticks [I used powdered and it was fine]
* salt
* fresh ground black pepper
* 1 large head cauliflower
* 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
* 5 ounces feta cheese
[* Honey or sugar (Optional. 1-2 tsp or to taste. Use sparingly.)]

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a saute pan, gently cook the garlic and onion in half of the olive oil until soft. Add the tomatoes, herbs, spice and seasonings. Cover pan and simmer 5 minutes.

Cut up the cauliflower into florets and stir into the tomato sauce mixture. Cover pan and cook another 10 minutes.

Transfer the mixture into a shallow, ovenproof dish, and drizzle with the remaining olive oil and the lemon juice.

Crumble the feta cheese on the top and garnish with black pepper.

Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 minutes. I used the convection setting.

A better presentation is to steam the cauliflower florets separately, put the tomato sauce in the bottom of an oven proof dish, and put the cauliflower on top.Dribble some oil, squeeze the lemon and crumble the feta over the top, then bake. Using this method, the visual and taste contrast between the cauliflower and sauce is more striking: Rather than one homogeneous taste, it has a range.