Cauliflower Steak, It’s What’s For Dinner!

In my never ending quest to learn how to cook and reconfigure things, this week I decided to take on the elusive cauliflower steak. Okay so maybe it’s not all that elusive but it’s something I’ve wanted to make but simply never got around to doing.

Until now.

I was recently wasting a bit of time on YouTube and came across two guys, Scottish or Welsh I think, doing different things with cauliflower. Of course it wasn’t the first time I’d seen cauliflower steaks but it was the first time someone made it look fairly easy and delicious. So I put it on the menu for the following week, gathered my spices and I hoped for the best.

The first thing you should know is that making this dish really is super easy. All you need for the cauliflower is:

Herbs & spices

Olive oil

Oven safe dish

That’s the end of the list and you’re already intrigued…am I right?

Make sure you get a big-ish cauliflower because the steaks come from the center of the vegetable and you want to be able to cut as many as you need to feed everyone. This was kind of a problem for us because it was really only large enough for 2 actual steaks, but since we haven’t had much success getting his parents to eat and enjoy vegan food, Mama had a small portion that wasn’t very steak-like.

Coat the cauliflower steaks in olive oil, just don’t go too crazy because it is still fat. I used less than a tablespoon for all of the cauliflower and I think that’s plenty. Now, rub the oil all over the steaks and season with salt and pepper. Then add whatever other seasonings you want and arrange them on some kind of baking sheet. Pop them in the oven on 180°C or 350°F for 20 to 30 minutes. The oven at our rental in Romania isn’t VERY old so it took almost double the time to cook our steaks, but you should be good with 20 to 30 minutes. Check at the 20 minute mark just to be sure.

While the vegan steaks are cooking, you can start on the potatoes and peas, but I started the potatoes and peas first because I wanted to relax with my hubs and a cocktail while the steaks cooked. Boil the potatoes until tender (I didn’t bother to peel them, but do what you like) and drain, reserving some of the water just in case you need it for later. Vegan milk doesn’t have all that many calories so you could use it, but I opted for vegan butter and garlic, cooking the garlic in the butter and then dumping the potatoes on top to mash it all together…with a hand mixer.

All you need is salt, pepper, garlic and vegan butter for the creamiest mashed potatoes around!

I kept the peas simple too, using 1.5 cups of frozen peas. I added a tablespoon of water to help cook the water from the veggies and then I added just three ingredients: salt, pepper and…you guessed it, vegan butter.

I figured since the cauliflower steaks are FILLED with flavor, the rest of the meal could be nice and simple.

The best thing of all about this dish? One proper serving was just 291 calories and there was a big butt of cauliflower left over so you know we had seconds!