Cauliflower Steak with Romesco Sauce

Delicious Cauliflower Steak, marinated and baked, served with our homemade Romesco Sauce. A summer main-dish that the whole family will love. Naturally vegan and gluten-free.

Cauliflower is one of our favourite vegetables. So versatile, we keep developing different recipes with this lovely veggie. If you type "Cauliflower" in our website searcher, you will get many options to get cooking. Some of our favourites are this Asian Style orange Cauliflower or this Vegan Bolognese made with Cauliflower and Walnuts.

You can make nuggets with cauliflower florets, minced "meat" with cauliflower and walnuts, cauliflower rice, soup, sauces and many other delicious dishes. This time, we made a mouth-watering, crispy on the outside but tender on the inside Cauliflower Steak.

Cauliflower contains a high amount of fibre making it ideal for weight loss and improve digestion, so it's the perfect veggie to always have on hand.

But, our favourite part of this dish is the sauce that the cauliflower is served in. Romesco Sauce, a delicate sauce that combines the smoky flavour from the roasted veggies with the nutty flavour of the toasted almonds and hazelnuts.

Our Cauliflower Steak served with Romesco Sauce is:

• Vegan
• Gluten-free
• Side or main dish
• Rich in fibre
• Easy to prepare
• Toddler and kids friendly

How to make Cauliflower Steaks

Even if we use the word Steak, there is no meat or fake meat involved. Just perfectly seasoned and baked cauliflower, that's all you really need.

Choose the right cauliflower. To get the perfect size cauliflower steaks, we try to get a big, fresh and good looking cauliflower. Check for any brown bits, as this is a sign of the cauliflower being old.

Cut the cauliflower. Remove the outer leaves and cut the cauliflower starting from the middle of the head slicing it until the core. You will need around one-inch-thick cauliflower steak. Depending on the cauliflower, you will be able to get 4 steaks from one cauliflower head. We normally cut two big steaks and use the rest of the cauliflower for other recipes.

Baking time. Place the cauliflower steaks into a baking tray. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil, season with turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper and bake for around 20 minutes at 200C, flipping them halfway through.

Simple and tasty. Roasted cauliflower tastes so good that you won't need to add much to it.

Breaded Cauliflower Steak

Another option to cook your cauliflower steaks is breading them before baking. This gives an extra crunchiness to your cauliflower and makes it really yummy. It takes a bit of extra time, but I would say if you have it, it's definitely worth it!

Mix in a big bowl the same amount of vegetable milk and flour and the same spices that we use for seasoning the cauliflower: turmeric, cumin, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Then into another bowl place your breadcrumbs. Dip the steak first into the wet mixture and then into the breadcrumbs.

Bake for about 12-15 minutes on each side at 200Cº / 390F.

How to make the best Romesco Sauce

Romesco Sauce is a red pepper (ñora) and tomato-based sauce that originates from Catalunya, Spain.

Ingredients

• Ñora Pepper. This sauce is originally made with Ñora pepper. This type of peppers provide a smoky flavor to your sauces and meals. Commonly used in Spain to make dipping sauces, or even a vegetarian paella base or other dishes. You can find it dried or as powder. If you live in Spain, you can find it in some fruit and vegetable stores but otherwise, you may need to get them online. If you have dried ñora peppers, before using them for this sauce, make sure to hydrate them in warm water for at least two hours. You can subsitute this ingredient using roasted red bell pepper. For our recipe, we use fresh Ñora peppers from our garden baked with the rest of the sauce ingredients.

• Tomato. We like using plum tomatoes, are they are the best when preparing sauces. During summer, we use any tomatoes we have growing in our garden. You can substitute this ingredient for tomato paste or hydrated sun-dried tomatoes.
• Garlic. This will be roasted with the tomato and pepper to make the flavour of the sauce just perfect.
• Extra virgin olive oil. Spain is the number one country in terms of good quality olive oil. Adding a good extra virgin olive oil makes a huge difference to the taste of your Romesco Sauce. This is a good olive oil we use regularly.
• Toasted nuts. We use toasted almonds and hazelnuts for our romesco sauce. If you buy them raw, just toast them for avout 7-8 minutes in the oven.
• Vinegar. Sherry vinager is the one to look for when making Romesco but chances are you won't have it easily. Use any vinegar you have on hand.
• Smoked paprika. Please, don't leave the smoked paprika out, as it's the ingredient that will give the sauce that smoky flavour that you are looking for when making romesco. If you are looking for a good smoked paprika, have a look at La Chinata.

Step by Step Recipe

1. If you are using dried Ñora peppers hydrate them for two hours in warm water. Remove the seeds and skin and add them into the blender jug.
2. Place in a baking tray the garlic, tomatoes and the peppers if using fresh Ñora peppers or red bell pepper. Add some olive oil and bake for abour 20 minutes. You may need to leave the red pepper a bit longer if using a big pepper.
3. Transfer all the roasted ingredients into the blender jug and add the toasted nuts, smoked paprika, vinegar, olive oil and salt. Blend until you have a smooth consistency.

Every time we make romesco, we prepare more than enough so we can have it for a couple of days. It's so good that it's difficult to have some leftovers. You can as well get store-bought romesco sauce online.

Romesco is normally served with meat or fish but it doesn't have to be that way. Cauliflower and romesco are such a good combination that you won't miss the meat. Also, we enjoy this sauce with boiled or roasted potatoes, homemade pita bread or roasted vegetables. You can serve this sauce warm, at room temperature or cold.

Serving Suggestions

We love serving our Romesco Cauliflower Steaks with a nice and fresh cucumber and tomato salad, a pulse salad such as bean, chickpea or lentil salad, rice or baked potatoes. The salad is the perfect option for a light meal.

We add pimientos de padrón (padrón peppers) which are fried and served with sea salt. They are served as a tapa in Spain and during the summer we buy them at the market. So green and fresh! Maybe next year we should try to grow our own ones.

Make sure you serve some extra sauce in a pinch bowl to be able to keep adding more to your cauliflower.

Variations of this Recipe

1. Try serving this delicious cauliflower steaks with a different sauce! We've tried serving this recipe with our cilantro dressing or muhammara sauce and it was super yummy too.
2. Bake the cauliflower. Make this dish even crispier and cunchier by breading the cauliflower.
3. Serve the cauliflower with pulses such as lentils or beans to add plant-based protein to your meal.

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5 from 7 votes

Cauliflower Steak with Romesco Sauce

A Hearty main dish that everyone will love. Simple to prepare and really enjoyable.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time1 hr

Total Time1 hr 10 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Keyword: Cauliflower Steak, Romesco Sauce

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

Ingredients for the Cauliflower Steak

• 1 cauliflower
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh coriander

Ingredients for the Romesco Sauce

• 1 plum tomato
• 1 red pepper
• 1 garlic clove
• 4 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• ½ tablespoon vinegar
• 15 g almonds
• 15 g hazelnuts
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

Instructions for the Romesco Sauce

• Preheat the oven to 220C. Place the plum tomato, the red pepper and the garlic clove on a baking tray. Bake for around 20 minutes the tomato and garlic or until the skin has partially blackened and leave the red pepper for a bit longer, 30-40 minutes. Take the red pepper out and leave aside to cool.
• Turn the heat of the oven down to 180C and on another baking tray, add the hazelnuts and almonds and roast for around 10 minutes.
• Take the skin off the red pepper and tomato, remove the extra water and add them to a blender jug. Add the roasted almonds and hazelnuts, the olive oil, vinegar, smoked paprika and salt and pepper to taste. Blend all the ingredients until desired consistency. If the sauce is too liquidy, you can add a little bit of bread.

Instructions for the Cauliflower Steak

• Remove the outer leave and cut the cauliflower starting from the middle of the head slicing it until the core. You will need around one-inch-thick cauliflower steak.
• Place the cauliflower steaks into a baking tray. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil, season with turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper and bake for around 20 minutes at 200C, flipping them halfway through.
• Add the romesco sauce on a plate and place the roasted cauliflower steak on the top. Sprinkle some fresh chopped coriander on the top.