Cauliflower is very much the vegetable of the moment. If you haven’t tried roasting it yet, you are in for an amazing transformation. You won’t recognize it as the same vegetable. My usual method is to coat it with a drizzle of olive oil, sea salt, and roast in the oven at 425 degrees F. for about 30-40 minutes, turning once. You end up with the most amazingly crispy caramelized bits on the edges. But, every once in a awhile, the oven is not an option. You might have something already there at a different temperature. Here they are browned in a heavy skillet on top of the stove. It was even faster and the results were delicious.
Pan-Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with Tomatoes & Capers
(serves 2 as a main dish)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
- 1/4 teaspoon of red chile flakes
- 1/2 head of cauliflower, sliced into steaks about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick
- 1 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 tablespoons of capers (soaked and rinsed with water if salted), drained
- Chopped Italian parsley for serving
Pan Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with Tomatoes and Capers
- Trim the bottom of the cauliflower, but keep some of the stem to keep the florets intact. Cut the cauliflower into 1/2 to 3/4 inch steaks through the middle, as much as possible keeping some of the stalk on each slice. You will have some extra florets from the ends, you can use them to fill in the skillet.
Sliced Cauliflower
- Heat the olive oil in a large cast-iron or other heavy skillet over medium heat.
- Add the garlic and chili flakes and swirl until fragrant, making sure the garlic doesn’t burn.
- Add the cauliflower steaks in one layer, filling the pan and making sure they touch it. Add any extra florets to any gaps.
- Sprinkle with salt
- Cook without turning until caramelized on the bottom, about 8 minutes. Then flip and turn to brown the other side, another 8 to 10 minutes. During the last few minutes, add the tomatoes and capers.
- Adjust the seasoning, scatter with parsley and serve. You can serve this directly in the skillet.
We were all out of parsley (and it was raining too hard to run into the garden) so I scattered arugula on top when I added the tomatoes and capers. It wilted nicely on the top just like it would on pizza.
Recipe slightly adapted from Root to Stalk Cooking by Tara Duggan. I highly recommend this book as she has suggestions for using the whole vegetable, not just the familiar parts.
I’m taking this to the part at Fiesta Friday #107, come investigate the lovely dishes on the buffet at Angie’s. Our co-hosts this week are Margy @ La Petite Casserole and Su @ Su’s Healthy Living.
I love this! Vegetables are a work of art for me!
I agree, cauliflower is a good canvas as well. Thank you.
Couldn’t agree more Liz – I too am loving roasted cauliflower. My tip is to buy it still surrounded by green leaves – as they too taste amazing roasted!
The leaves do get lovely and crispy, I agree. Unless i get the heads at the farmer’s market, they are mostly gone from the supermarket heads.
Agree I’ve started asking for one from the back before they cut the leaves off!
Great idea!
Lovely! You know I’d love this 🙂
I thought of you as I wrote it, you are the queen of roasted vegetables!
Ha ha! Why, thank you 🙂
I’ve just made and eaten your cauliflower 🙂 lovely!!
I am so pleased you enjoyed it. You inspired me to cook a batch of garbanzo beans from scratch, they are so much better than the canned variety. I plan to use them in a curry similar to the one you posted.
Wonderful! I love how we’ve inspired one another 🙂
I am very interested to try this.. Cauliflower is a big thing here too.. And the price is creeping up!
I know really! It has become quite expensive here as well.
Nice way to cook and serve cauliflower! Thanks a lot for sharing and being at FF!
Just lovely!
It’s so much fun to cook with cauliflower as you can do so many things with it, especially roasting it. I have not tried the “steaks” yet. I am making a cauliflower pizza crust this week – love that veggie and love pizza so I hope I like it 🙂
I liked the crust although my husband objected to it being called “pizza”. He seemed to think it was a sacrilege and insisted it be named cauliflower flatbread. I will be interested in what you think.
I love the idea of a cauliflower steak! This pan-roasted cauliflower looks amazing with all the browning and caramelization in the first picture. What a great way to get in your roasted cauliflower when the oven is already occupied 🙂
Hello, thank you for visiting. The steaks make a very nice presentation.
Cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetables! I love this recipe of yours! I am going to try it soon and cauliflowers are in season now.Thanks for bringing it to FF!
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