Dinner with Good Friends

We had a most wonderful evening last night with friends. It was a perfect evening to sit on the deck, grill some salmon, drink a little wine, and enjoy lively conversations.

I’ve always heard that you shouldn’t try new recipes when you are entertaining. Personally, I think that’s just plain silly. I look at entertaining as an opportunity to flex my creative cooking muscle and get good feedback from multiple sources. I will admit not all experiments have turned out but by the same token I’ve made a tried and true recipe with equal disaster.

Tossing caution to the wind, I spent a bit of time on Pinterest looking for a roasted cauliflower recipe that was not too spicy, contained fairly common ingredients and didn’t take hours to prepare, after all I want to spend time with my guests not my stove. 

Cauliflower has become one of my favorite foods, it’s so versatile; you can roast, steam, eat raw and grill it. It pairs nicely with other foods and it has some health benefits - like lowering inflammation, it’s high in fiber, and it helps to maintain heart health. 

We had 2 vegetarians among us so and added requirement was that the dish needed to provide some protein on that front. So without further adieu I give you:

Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with Chickpeas, Tomatoes and a Yoghurt Herb Sauce 

Ingredients

2T smoked paprika

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 head cauliflower, cut into four 1-inch thick slabs

1 cup cherry tomatoes

1 cup cooked chickpeas

1/2 cup plain coconut milk yogurt

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Whisk together the olive oil, smoked paprika, salt, turmeric, and cayenne in a small bowl. Arrange the cauliflower steaks on the prepared baking sheet so that they are not overlapping. Brush the olive oil mixture over the tops of the cauliflower steaks.

Toss the tomatoes and chickpeas with the remaining olive oil mixture to coat. Arrange them around the cauliflower. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, flip the cauliflower steaks, and continue baking until cauliflower stems are fork tender, about 10 more minutes.

While the cauliflower roasts, mix the yogurt, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, and salt together in a small bowl. Plate the cauliflower steaks on a serving platter, cover and surround with chickpea and tomato mixture and drizzle with the yogurt sauce. Serve!

We served this with honey roasted carrots and wild rice with onions, mushrooms and cranberries.