This is how I feel about this dish, which is not a Joshua McFadden creation, but which very much reminds me of his bright, vegetable-centric style of cooking. This one comes from another whiz in that genre, Yotam Ottolenghi, and I find it irresistible: slabs of cauliflower sear stovetop before finishing in the oven while capers sizzle in a pan with olive oil, before mixing with walnuts, currants, and parsley to form a salsa. If you wish, you can stir together Greek yogurt with fresh lemon and any remaining parsley to form an herby schmear to spread across the serving dish, a bed for the burnished steaks to nestle into, a creamy base to balance the sharpness of the salsa. I first made this recipe about this time last year, when I found myself really feeling the heaviness of winter, as the soup, stew, and braise fatigue neared its peak. It was such a welcomed change to the nightly sheet pan of roasted vegetables and whatever bubbled away in the crock stovetop. I’m finding it equally uplifting and tasty right now, as addictive as a tin of Pringles — once you pop, you can’t stop … or something like that? PS: All the Cauliflower recipes right here: Cauliflower Here’s the play by play: Gather your ingredients. Heat capers in olive oil till they begin to sizzle, about 5 minutes. Off the heat, stir in crushed red pepper flakes, toasted walnuts, parsley, vinegar, currants, and lemon zest. Caper-walnut salsa! This stuff is soooo good. Cut cauliflower into steaks — you can get about threes slabs per head (depending on the size). Sear the cauliflower steaks in a little bit of oil — if the cauliflower isn’t laying flat, use two pans. (I normally do; I should have here.) Flip the steaks. Transfer pan to the oven — I add all the little bits of cauliflower and greens that fall off during the cutting. Meanwhile, make a lemony-yogurt sauce. If you don’t think you’ll use the rest of that bunch of parsley you bought for the salsa any time soon, you can chop it all up and stir it into the yogurt sauce. Sauce, done. Smear sauce across the plate. Top with the seared cauliflower. Spoon the caper-walnut salsa over top. From last time… see how the steaks are more evenly brown? That’s thanks to using two pans. 5 from 15 reviews If you like video guidance, I made this on Instagram stories.
