One of my favourite things is finding ways to 'pimp up' vegetables. These sorts of recipes are often
quick and easy and pretty much just involve adding some creative seasoning. I also love Cauliflower as it's a great vegetable to work with as it's quite 'meaty' and when roasted gets a lovely chargrilled taste.
I've seen similar recipes roasting cauliflower with chorizo, which is a flavour I loved from my pre-vegan
days. Rather brilliantly that smokey flavour is easy to replicate However, it is easy to replicate with smoked paprika - probably my number one fave spice in the world!
There's nothing to stop you mixing up the herbs and spices in this recipe. For example, you could add / substitute in ground coriander, or sprinkle with fresh coriander instead of parsley, giving it a more Indian feel. To be honest, sometimes it's just about what you have in your cupboard and what's convenient at the time- and your own personal tastes!
Using pomegranate molasses is a great addition to roasted vegetable dishes as it helps caramelise them. You can pick tit up at most health food stores or just order online from places like Amazon. Roasting garlic cloves whole also caramelises them, so the whole dish has a sweet edge to it, which is just delicious and works well with the spicy smoky seasoning.
During the cold months I have an obsession with pomegranate as it brightens up any dish. So I couldn't resist putting it here for the contrast in colours. In addition, the crunch of pomegranate seeds and pumpkin seeds is a great contrast with the softer cauliflower and whole garlic cloves. Also it looks BEAUTIFUL. Which always helps!
Nothing to stop you replicating the same recipe with other vegetables like pumpkin slices. Enjoy getting creative!
📖 Recipe
Spicy Cauliflower Steaks with Pomegranate
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
- 1 cauliflower
- 2 tablespoon olive oil (plus extra for greasing tray)
- 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
- Zest of one lemon (better to use organic when you use zest)
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 4 cloves Crushed / chopped garlic
- 8 whole garlic cloves (peeled)
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 3 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
- 3 tablespoon Pomegranate seeds
- Fresh parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180⁰C. Grease a baking tray with olive oil.
- Remove leaves from cauliflowers and trim the base so you can stand the cauliflower upright for chopping into ‘steaks’.
- Cut the cauliflower into slices about 3cm thick and lie them on the baking tray.
- Make the seasoning by mixing together the olive oil, pomegranate molasses, zest and lemon juice, crushed garlic, smoked paprika, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper.
- Drizzle half of this over all the ‘steaks’. Then flip the steaks over and drizzle the other half of the seasoning on the other side of the steaks, so they are fully marinated. Then sprinkle the garlic cloves on and around the ‘steaks’.
- Bake the ‘steaks’ for 15 minutes. Then sprinkle on the pumpkin seeds and pomegranate seeds and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the ‘steaks’ have a golden brown to their edges.
- Sprinkle with fresh parsley before serving.
