Romesco

This vegetarian entree uses thick slices of cauliflower as a stand in for the usual chicken. You can use the same technique for some thinly sliced boneless and skinless chicken breasts. Trust me though, your family might not miss the meat.

Romesco is a spanish sauce that contains roasted sweet peppers, almonds, garlic, vinegar and olive oil. You will have leftover sauce from the recipe, smear it on toasted bread or serve it with raw vegetables. It’s easy to make in a small food processor or blender and wonderful to have on hand.

Cauliflower Milanese with Romesco Sauce

I am a big fan of cauliflower especially if it has crispy edges. You can find lots of recipes for it in many forms on my blog. Did you know you can search by category or major ingredient? Unfortunately it doesn’t show unless you are on your computer. But, you will find it on the rights side of the post. Cauliflower has its own category.

This recipe came from the cookbook The Weekday Vegetarians by Jenny Rosenstrach. She says that the recipe serves 4, only 2 in our house with leftover sauce.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of all purpose flour
2 eggs, whisked
1 cup of panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil plus more as needed
1 large head of cauliflower, outer leaves removed, sliced from top to bottom through the core into 6 or 8 (3/4 inch) slices or “steaks”. Keep any florets that break off to cook separately.
Fresh chopped chives or parsley for serving

Romesco Sauce:

1 (12-ounce) jar of roasted sweet red peppers, drained
1 large garlic clove
2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup of blanched almonds
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Method:

Make the Romesco Sauce:

In a blender or small food processor combine the roasted peppers, garlic, vinegar, salt, pepper, almonds and olive oil. Blend until emulsified. The sauce should be spreadable but on the thicker side. You can make the sauce ahead, it will keep in the fridge for about a week.

Cauliflower:

Set up three dredging stations in wide bowls or rimmed plates: one for the flour, one for the eggs, and one for the panko. Season the panko with salt, pepper and the nutritional yeast.
Prepare a large sheet pan or baking sheet by lining it with paper towels.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Using your fingers, dredge the cauliflower steaks first in the flour, then the egg, then finally in the panko. Place the steak in the hot skillet, repeat with as many steaks that will fit in the pan without crowding or overlapping. You will probably need to do this in batches. Fry each steak until golden brown and crispy on one side, then carefully turn to brown the second. I used two wide metal spatulas to do this without breaking the steaks.
Transfer the steaks onto the paper towel lined baking sheet to drain.
Repeat until all the cauliflower has been breaded and fried. I dredges the leftover florets the same way and fried them as well. You may need to use additional olive oil. They never made it to the dinner table.
To serve, spread 1/2 cup of the Romesco sauce on each warmed plate. Place one or two cauliflower steaks on top and garnish with the chives or parsley.

Cauliflower Milanese with Romesco Sauce

You can easily use the same recipe for thin chicken cutlets. Instead of the Romesco sauce, Chicken Milanese is often served with an arugula salad, cherry tomatoes and a lemon wedge. To make this gluten free, use gluten free flour and panko.

Or try this one for cauliflower cutlets with arugula salad.