This chipotle cauliflower steak with lemon turmeric sauce is absolutely wonderful. The combination boasts incredible flavor that is both warming and light. It’s a great side dish, snack, and especially breakfast when served on toasted sourdough bread. It’s delicious, hearty, healthy and a great way to start the day. I hope you love it as much as we do!
Cauliflower: The Wonder Vegetable of the World
As a member of the cruciferous family, the humble cauliflower packs just as much of a nutritional punch as it’s cousins kale, broccoli, and cabbage. It’s high in fiber and loaded with Vitamin C, calcium, potassium, folate, and magnesium. It also contains phytonutrients and antioxidants. This versatile wonder vegetable is additionally known for it’s anti-inflammatory effects as well as it’s digestive and cardiovascular support. Pretty impressive, huh?!?
Cauliflower really deserves its own food group. Cauliflower is one of the healthiest and most versatile vegetables in the world and comes in more than 100 varieties. This amazing vegetable is used in almost every type of cuisine and I can see why. You can do so much with it:
- Mash it
- Grill it
- Bake it
- Steam it
- Rice it
- Dip it
- Pickle it
- Sauté it
- Fry it
- Turn it into pizza crust!
How to Make Chipotle Cauliflower Steak with Lemon Turmeric Sauce
Start by trimming the leaves off of the cauliflower, making sure to keep the stem intact. Place, stem side up, in a large pot of water with 2 teaspoon sea salt and 2 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Make sure it’s deep enough to cover the entire cauliflower. Bring the water to a boil. Once it’s boiling, remove from heat and let sit in hot water for 8-10 minutes. Remove to let cool.
While cauliflower is cooling, make the glaze. Sauté the garlic and shallots for a few minutes until tender. Add cooked garlic and shallots to a small blender with remaining glaze ingredients and blitz until combined.
Once cauliflower has cooled, slice into ‘steaks’, making sure to include a portion of the stem in each piece. Smaller cauliflowers might only yield 2 – 1 or 1 ½” steaks so you may need 2 heads of cauliflower if you’re making 4 servings. Coat all sides of the cauliflower with the chipotle glaze.
Heat a cast-iron skillet over high heat. Place steaks in skillet and sear the first side for about 3-4 minutes, flip and sear the other side for another 3-4 minutes. Transfer skillet to the oven and bake for about 5-10 minutes, or until tender. After baking, slice stem off as this part can be a bit tough.
While that’s in the oven, make the turmeric sauce by blending all ingredients until smooth.
How to Serve Cauliflower Steaks
Serve on top of grilled sourdough bread like pictured or on top of a bed of roasted red pepper hummus. Drizzle with lemon turmeric cashew cream and top with chopped pistachios, sliced green onions, and crushed red pepper flakes.
The inspiration from this combination comes from two different recipes. One of them was a steamed cauliflower wedge on a bed of hummus and the other was a chipotle cauliflower steak topped with a nut crumb mixture that’s served at Turf in Vancouver. Both are delicious!!
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Chipotle Cauliflower Steak with Lemon Turmeric Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 Head Cauliflower
- 2 teaspoon Sea Salt
- 2 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- ½ Cup Pistachios Chopped
- 2 Green Onions Sliced
Chipotle Glaze
- 2 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 2 Garlic Cloves
- 1 Shallot
- 1 Chipotle Pepper in Adobe Sauce
- 2 tablespoon Rice Wine Vinegar
- 2 tablespoon Maple Syrup
- ¼ teaspoon Smoked Paprika
Lemon Turmeric Cream Sauce
- ½ Cup Soaked Cashews
- ½ Cup Water
- ½ teaspoon Ground Turmeric
- 1 Garlic Clove
- ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
- Zest of 1 Lemon
- Juice of 1 Lemon
Instructions
To Prepare the Cauliflower
- Trim the leaves off of the cauliflower, keeping the stem intact
- Place, stem side up, in a large pot of water with 2 teaspoon sea salt and 2 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Make sure it's deep enough to cover the entire cauliflower
- Turn heat to high and bring to boil. Once it's boiling, remove from heat and let sit in hot water for 8-10 minutes
- Drain and let cool
Chipotle Glaze
- Sauté the garlic and shallots in olive oil over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes, or until tender
- Add cooked garlic and shallots to a small blender with remaining glaze ingredients and blitz until combined
Lemon Turmeric Cream Sauce
- Put all ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth
Cauliflower Steaks
- Preheat oven to 425°F
- Once cauliflower has cooled, slice into 2-4 steaks, making sure to include a portion of the stem in each piece. Smaller cauliflowers might only yield 2 – 1 or 1 ½" steaks so you may need 2 heads of cauliflower
- Coat all sides of the cauliflower with the chipotle glaze
- Heat a cast-iron skillet over high. Place steaks in skillet and sear the first side for about 3-4 minutes, flip and sear the other side for another 3-4 minutes
- Transfer the skillet with cauliflower steaks to oven and bake for about 5-10 minutes, or until tender. After baking, cut off the stem as this can get tough and hard to chew.
- Serve on grilled sourdough bread or on a bed of hummus. Drizzle with lemon turmeric cashew cream and top with chopped pistachios, sliced green onions, cracked pepper, and red pepper flakes.
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