Cauliflower Steak Piccata
Course: MainCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy4
servings30
minutes40
minutesDuring the quarantine, I became obsessed with perfecting my Piccata Sauce recipe. It has since become a family favorite and I make it in large batches so that I can always have a stash of it in the freezer. I started using it as a sauce for my Caramelized Onion Turkey Meatballs, which I highly recommend.
This past Winter, I similarly became obsessed with perfecting my Cauliflower Steak recipe. Once I nailed the Cauliflower Steaks, I began brainstorming ways to make them shine. It occurred me that I typically serve my Chicken Piccata with roasted cauliflower, as it is so lovely mixed into the dish (with pasta of course). Thus, Cauliflower Piccata was born.
This Cauliflower Piccata is absolutely divine on top of pasta, but would also be excellent served over rice or polenta. It hits all the notes, salty, tangy, savory, with a kiss of sweetness to round out the flavor.
Ingredients
- For Cauliflower Steaks
2 medium heads cauliflower
4 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp grated Parmesan
1 tsp seasoned salt
- For Piccata Sauce
3 tbsp butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 lemons
1 tsp sugar
3 cups chicken broth, cold
1 shallot, diced (or 1/2 cup diced red onion)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp capers
Kosher salt
black pepper
Directions
- Place a sheet pan on middle rack in oven and preheat to 500 degrees. Slice base off each cauliflower and cut away any pieces that aren’t connected to stem end (save them for roasting another day). Slice the remaining slab of cauliflower vertically into 2, 1 inch thick slabs. Rub olive oil onto cut sides and sprinkle with seasoned salt and Parmesan. Set aside while you make the Piccata Sauce.
- Using a microplane grater, remove the zest from both lemons and set aside. Juice one of the lemons and set aside. Over medium heat, melt butter in a 10 inch sauté pan, then add diced shallot and garlic. Sauté shallot and garlic until softened. Add flour to pan and stir to combine. Cook flour/butter mixture for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently. Raise temperature to medium high and add cold stock in a slow steady stream, whisking continuously to incorporate stock into flour/butter mixture. Whisking frequently, bring stock to a low boil to thicken, this should only take a few minutes. Once sauce is thickened, add lemon zest, juice, and sugar, and 1 1/2 tsp Kosher salt. Add capers, then black pepper to taste. Stir, then cover pan and turn burner to low while you prepare Cauliflower Steaks.
- Once oven is preheated, carefully remove pan and place cauliflower onto pan. Place pan back into oven. Cook cauliflower steaks for 16 minutes total, flipping once. VERY IMPORTANT STEP: 4 minutes into cook time on each side, carefully crack open oven door just long enough to release any steam that has built up in oven. This ensures that cauliflower steaks cook primarily via searing instead of steaming.
- Once Cauliflower Steaks are done, remove them from pan and set each steak upon a bed of your favorite pasta. Ladle Piccata Sauce on top of steaks and garnish with chopped parsley.
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