Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini

Heat the oven to 220C/425F with a large roasting tin inside it. Cauliflower needs a genuinely hot oven; at 180C/350F the water comes out faster than it can evaporate and the wedges poach in it.

Pull off any tough dark outer leaves but keep the tender pale ones attached, because they crisp up like chips.

Stand the cauliflower on its base and cut down through the stalk into 8 wedges, making sure each one keeps a piece of the core so it holds together.

Toss the wedges with the olive oil, cumin and the 4g of fine salt, working the oil onto both cut faces of each wedge.

Take the hot tin out of the oven and lay the wedges in it cut-side down, with a couple of centimetres of bare metal between them. Those flat cut faces are where all the browning happens, and a tin packed tight traps the steam coming off them — crowd it and you get pale, soft cauliflower with no colour anywhere.

Roast for 20 minutes.

Turn each wedge onto its second cut face with tongs.

Roast for a further 10-15 minutes, until the cut faces are deep brown in patches and a knife tip slides into the stalk with no resistance.

Stir the tahini, grated garlic, lemon juice and the 2g of fine salt together in a bowl while the cauliflower roasts.

Expect it to seize almost at once into a stiff, grainy paste that looks ruined. It is not, and nothing has gone wrong; tahini always tightens like this when acid or water first hits it.

Add the ice-cold water a tablespoon at a time, whisking hard after each addition, until the paste slackens and turns pale and smooth.

Carry on adding water until the sauce falls off the whisk in a ribbon, about the thickness of pouring cream. It will take more than you expect.

Spoon the sauce onto a warm platter and spread it out with the back of the spoon.

Pile the hot cauliflower on top, browned faces upwards.

Scatter over the parsley and pomegranate seeds.

Finish with flaky salt.

Serve while the wedges are still hot. It is substantial enough to lead the plate, and it sits well beside the roast chicken with lemon and thyme.