Cauliflower Steak
Crisp sunny days with clear blue skies; summer has arrived! Personally, I like to hibernate during hot summer days vs. winter. I avoid crowded tourist attractions and traveling, dodging overcrowded airports, roads, and beaches. Just because I'm staying in does not mean I seclude myself away from enjoying the company of close family and friends. Just the opposite! This time of the year, I enjoy relaxing pool parties at our ranch in San Diego. We have plenty of fresh organic fruits and vegetables to serve along with breathtaking views of nearby rolling hills, horses, and lush beautiful vegetation around our neighborhood to share. A gentle breeze grazes our valley to help keep temperatures cool; and if it becomes too hot, a dip in our salt water pool with tantalizing homemade lemonade remedies all!
For my summer parties, I prefer to serve meals which can be prepared in advance and require minimal use of the oven or stove. In many of our past posts, I shared with you easy to make recipes such as guacamole and tomatillo salsas along with easy summer meals for hot summer days.
In this post, I want to share with you a recipe I prepared for my guests which made entertaining with food healthy, beautiful, delicious and most importantly cool and relaxing!
Instead of grilling steaks in the heat of summer, I pan seared golden brown cauliflower steaks and topped them with vegetable from the garden which are filling and bursting with flavor. A vegetarian delight, served hot or cold, these steaks are low in calorie, nutritious, and helps maintain a healthy weight for summer. Next time you have a pool gathering, prepare these steaks in advance and serve them along with all your summer favorites dishes.
Have a healthy, light, beautiful summer!
Serves 4
Ingredients
*With the exception of cauliflower, any vegetable of your choice may be used for this recipe. I usually use any vegetable I have in season from my garden.
1 cauliflower; cut into flat four 3/4" steak size pieces (cutting from the top of flower to the bottom of the stem straight; maintaining the stem to keep flowerets intact)
1 large onion; cut into slivers
handful of heirloom tomatoes halved
1 carrot peeled and chopped into thin bite size pieces
1/2 green bell pepper; julienned
1 small zucchini chopped into small bite size pieces
4 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon curry powder of choice
3-4 tablespoons of coconut oil
In a large flat nonstick frying pan over medium heat using 2 tablespoons of coconut oil, place two pieces of cauliflower steaks and sear until golden brown. Dash light amount of salt, pepper and 1/4 teaspoon of curry powder over steaks and flip them over to sear other side. Again sprinkle light amount of salt, pepper and a small pinch of curry on top of steaks. Once golden brown, remove and place on serving dish or platter. Continue and repeat with 2 remaining cauliflower steaks and remove and place onto serving dish or platter. In the same pan, add remaining coconut oil and sauté onions until golden brown. Then add carrots, garlic, bell pepper, tomatoes and zucchini. Sear until vegetables are slightly cooked and maintain their shape (5-6 minutes). Add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon two heaping spoons of vegetable mix over the steaks. Serve either hot or cold.
