Like a lot of shoppers, I look for bargains when it comes to choosing which fruits and vegetables to cook each week.
Even in winter, when selections can be slim if you’re not a fan of root veggies and brassicas such as cabbage, broccoli, and kale, I tend to buy not what looks the yummiest or most interesting, but what’s on sale—or at least has a price I can live with.
When it comes to cauliflower, I won’t spend more than $3 for a head of the nutritious crunchy vegetable my kids called “brains” when they were little. As adults, they love cauliflower after learning how good it tastes when slow-roasted or processed into “rice” for a gluten-free pizza crust.
This flavor-packed plant-forward recipe is another winner for brassica lovers. Instead of breaking the white head into florets or boiling and mashing it like you would potatoes, I sliced the cauliflower into thick “steaks.” Then, after seasoning the slabs with salt, pepper and smoked paprika, I fried it in butter with minced garlic until it was crispy on both sides.
The steaks then went into a hot oven and were slow-roasted until they were tender enough to be pierced with a fork.
The coup de maître? After plating the cauliflower on a swoosh of lemony white bean puree, I topped it with a bright and herbaceous (and garlicky) chimichurri made with fresh parsley and cilantro.
If eating more veggies is a new year’s goal, I succeeded brilliantly with this dish—and you can, too!
When choosing cauliflower, look for creamy white heads that feel heavy, with tightly packed florets. There shouldn’t be any black spots on the curds—that’s a sign the veggie is getting old and on a road to being tossed (though you can still eat it if you cut the spots off).
You can use any mix of fresh herbs for the chimichurri. Just be sure to add some vinegar along with the garlic and crushed red pepper to brighten the flavor.
