Very tasty Cauliflower Cheese Steaks

 

Baked cauliflower, dressed in shredded Red Leicester Cheese, more eye-catchingly orange than red, with tasty spices added, and for the finishing touch, a crunchy parmesan crumb strewn throughout. This dish can confidently go solo taking centre stage, for a delicious vegetarian meal, perfect for Meat Free Monday. When baked, cauliflower becomes such a sweet vegetable, and keeps its shape and firmness beautifully. We really enjoyed it just on its own, but feel free to eat it with a salad, or any other side dish of your choice. 

Cauliflower is in season right now and can be purchased for only $2.00 each,  so now is the time to try this recipe as the price will go up. The caulis in the supermarket here aren't large,  so you might need to buy two and adjust the ingredients accordingly. Besides being an economical vegetable to buy, it's healthy, attractive, and suitable for a Meat Free Monday which is also good for the environment so it's ticking lots of boxes. 

 Cauliflower and cheese are a match made in Heaven. But we've moved on from baked cauliflower, smothered in a very rich cheese mornay sauce, and as delicious as that is, and perfect for a celebratory dinner or at Christmas time, this cauliflower steak dish still gives us the comfort of cheese and delicious spices, in a healthier format, and can be eaten as a meal in itself. I was very surprised that Mr. HRK was happy to eat just this dish, on its own, and then was quite satisfied. He thought it was really tasty and filling.

How do you feel though about calling this dish a Cauliflower Cheese Steak? Should only meat be called a steak, or are we moving on from that perception as well? This recipe is adapted from the amazing recipe book, Dinner, by Nagi Maehashi @RecipeTinEats. Nagi calls this a Cauliflower Cheese Steak, so that's good enough for me, for now. The language of food is constantly evolving. 

Dear Readers, I'll be perfectly honest, I had been wanting to make this dish for a few days, ever since I saw the recipe come across on Nagi's email, and the cauliflower had been sitting in my refrigerator crisper for that long. I also own the recipe book. I decided that last night was the night to cook it, and it just happened to coincide with the Matilda's playing France in the Women's World Cup Soccer Match in Brisbane. Not the best time to try something new, however I still timed it quite well with being able to sit down and eat at the beginning of the Penalty shootout. Wasn't that stressful? Everyone was on the edge of their seats, but the Matildas prevailed and won. So exciting. Consequently, the dissection of the cauliflower into steaks isn't perfect. One eye on the Soccer match, one eye on the cauliflower, we ended up with a few smaller steaks instead of just two large steaks, but it didn't take anything away from the taste, just the perfect presentation. So don't worry too much if you end up with imperfectly sized steaks. Practice makes perfect. Next time, I will also definitely use more cheese than in the recipe to entirely cover the cauliflower, for taste and presentation.

So, whilst I am promoting this as the perfect Meat-free Monday dinner, we ate it on Saturday night. It's yours especially for tomorrow night.

Ingredients:

Serves 2. Prep: time 10 minutes, Cook; 30 minutes

1 large head of cauliflower, cut into 2 x 2.25 cm thick steaks

4 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

3/4 cup (75 g) shredded red Leicester cheese (or even more if you need it)

1/2 tsp finely chopped parsley

Spicy Seasoning

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 tsp ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon cooking salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Parmesan crumb

1 tightly packed tablespoon (7 g) finely grated parmesan

2 tablespoons panko breadcrumbs

1/8 teaspoon cooking salt

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

Method:

Preheat the oven to 240 deg. C. (220 deg. C. fan forced) Line your baking tray with baking paper.

Spice up  the Cauliflower

Place all the spices in a small bowl. Place the cauliflower steaks on the baking tray, and drizzle each side of them with 1 teaspoon of olive oil.

Sprinkle each half evenly with half the seasoning, turn over and season the other half. Do this with yur fingers, it's easier.

Roasting the Cauliflower

Place the cauliflower on the baking tray in the oven and roast for 15 minutes. Turn over the cauli pieces, and roast for a further 10 minutes.

Remove the tray from the oven, give the cauliflower a prod with a skewer if you wish, but the pieces should be nearly cooked. It can still be a little underdone.

Reset the oven heat to 200 deg. C (180 deg. C  fan forced).

Cover with the red Leicester cheese, then bake for a further 5 minutes until the cheese is melted and beautifully gooey. (See Cook's note below.)

 Parmesan Crumb

This crumb was so delicious. It wouldn't hurt to double the mixture so there is plenty to go around for everyone. While the cauliflower is roasting, mix the parmesan, breadcrumbs and the salt in a bowl. Heat the oil in a small non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Tip in the breadcrumb mixture and give it a stir for about 1 minute, until just golden. The parmesan might clump up, but that's ok.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl, and allow it to cool. That won't take long. Crumble with your fingers, and add the chopped parsley, giving it a mix together.

Serve this delicious and very healthy dish with the parmesan parsley crumb. Because the crumb is so tasty, I really don't think this step is optional, just saying.

Enjoy this with a leafy green salad, or a garden salad and a delicious salad dressing.

Cook's notes:

• To prepare the cauliflower steaks, take off the outer leaves and trim off any excess stalk. With a large knife, slice right down through the middle, then cut a 2.25 cm-2.5 cm thick slice from one half, keeping the core intact. The base of the cauliflower will keep the steak together. Repeat the same with the other half so you have two decent sized steaks. Any leftover cauliflower can be kept for another time. I used the whole lot of the small cauliflower, and it was the perfect amount for the both of us.
• Whilst I've nominated Red Leicester Cheese for this recipe, you can use your favourite melting cheese such as Colby, gruyere, or a tasty cheddar. Red Leicester Cheese can be quite expensive, so a more economical cheese might suit you better, you just won't get the visual appeal of the orange cheese.  However, it will still taste amazing. Nagi suggests that if you use mozzarella, mix through 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan for flavour. Mozzarella has more neutral flavours. 
• I discovered the first time I made this, the only time so far, that it's not a good idea to grate the cheese too early in an attempt to be super organised. By the time I came to covering the cauliflower with the cheese, it had started to soften and was difficult to sprinkle over the vegetable. Grate it in advance by all means but place it in the refrigerator so that it doesn't start to melt. It's a soft cheese.
• Fine pre-grated parmesan cheese, not the shredded type is preferable for this recipe.
• Ordinary breadcrumbs can be used instead of Panko. The delicious crumb clumps up even more so that you get crunchy balls. I'm tempted to double the amount of crumb next time I make this dish; it is so good. 
• This dish isn't suitable for freezing, and I would only keep leftovers in the refrigerator for one day.

Hope you all have a good week.

Warm wishes

Pauline