Cauliflower Piccata
Roasted cauliflower steaks are beautifully caramelized and bathed in a lemon butter caper sauce. A vegetarian and gluten free twist on classic piccata!
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 2 medium heads cauliflower outer leaves trimmed (see recipe note #1)
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil or other high heat oil, divided
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup white wine or vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup capers drained and rinsed
- 4 tablespoons butter (1/2 of a standard cube)
- fresh flat-leaf parsley for garnish, optional
- 1 small lemon thinly sliced for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450˚F. (recipe note #2)
- Place head of cauliflower on a large cutting board, stem side down. With a very sharp knife, cut in half, from top to bottom. Then carefully slice off one or two 3/4-inch thick 'steaks' from the cut-side of each half, taking care to include the core. Repeat with second head of cauliflower. (You'll get 2 to 4 steaks from each cauliflower head, depending on the size of the head and width of the core.) You'll have the ends leftover - divide these into florets to roast along with the steaks or reserve for another use.
- Arrange cauliflower steaks and florets (cut side up) on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil (recipe note #3). Then carefully flip and drizzle with second tablespoon of oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in preheated oven, undisturbed for 25 minutes, until sections of the cauliflower steak bottoms have caramelized to a deep bronze.
- After 25 minutes, carefully flip the cauliflower steaks with a thin spatula and stir florets. Return to oven for 8 to 10 minutes more, until very tender and lightly charred.
- While the cauliflower finishes roasting, make sauce: add wine, lemon juice, and capers to a skillet and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Continue to boil until reduced slightly, 1-2 minutes. Add butter and stir to melt; continue boiling until slightly thickened 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- Transfer roasted cauliflower steaks and florets to serving platter and spoon sauce over evenly. Garnish with parsley and lemon slices if desired and serve.
Notes
- Be sure to look for firm, uniformly shaped heads of cauliflower with hearty stems for the best cauliflower steaks.
- When you roast cauliflower steaks at 450˚F for this amount of time, you'll get luscious, very tender, deeply caramelized steaks. If you'd rather have tender-crisp, lightly caramelized cauliflower steaks, reduce the oven temperature to 425˚F and flip after 20 minutes. Then continue roasting to your desired doneness.
- For efficient oil drizzling, move the steaks and florets together on the baking sheet so there is as little space as possible. Once you've drizzled both sides, spread them out, so every steak and floret has some room to caramelize.
Nutrition
Calories: 271kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 481mg | Potassium: 934mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 371IU | Vitamin C: 156mg | Calcium: 81mg | Iron: 2mg
QR code
Scan this QR code with your phone's camera to view this recipe on your mobile device.
