Truth be told, I am a very lazy cook. I am the first to make sure that dinner is on the table in an hour flat (or less!) on most nights. Sometimes though, I’m feeling like taking a little more time on a special dinner, and Sunday is best. On a Sunday I can really take the time to make an ordinary ingredient special. Today that ingredient is cauliflower!

I love cauliflower. It’s such a versatile vegetable that can be used in place of an animal protein in almost any instance. I’ve been known to make cauliflower taco “meat”, buffalo cauliflower, and on and on! Tonight I took a little inspiration from the Middle East and I am happy to share this awesome recipe with you!

Cauli-Steaks with Roasted Garlic Two Bean Purée and Tahini Sauce

1 large head of cauliflower- sliced into 1 inch thick “steaks”

1 medium yellow onion sliced thin

4 cloves of garlic crushed

1 lemon thinly sliced into rounds

1 1/2 tablespoons z’attar

1 teaspoon ground cumin

3/4 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon crushed red chile flakes

salt and pepper to taste

toasted pine nuts and chopped parsley for serving.

What to do!

In a large bowl combine all ingredients except for the cauliflower, pine nuts and parsley.  Toss until well coated with the olive oil. This is your marinade mix.

Grab a large roasting pan and place about 1/3 of the marinade mix on the bottom.

Layer the cauliflower steaks on top of the marinade mix.

Spread another 1/3 of your marinade mix on top of the first layer of cauliflower and repeat this process until all the cauliflower is marinated. Depending on the size of your pan you may have two or three layers. The goal is to have all the cauliflower nice and covered by the marinade mix.

After all the cauliflower is coated in marinade mix, cover your pan with plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour.

Preheat your oven to 375˚

Grease two baking sheets with olive oil divide the cauliflower mixture between the two pans. This will help to ensure your steaks are really nicely browned.

Bake for 30-40 minutes flipping half way through. You want a nice and golden brown and roasty looking steak.

Sprinkle with parsley and pine nuts. Serve with Roasted Garlic Two Bean Purée and Tahini Sauce.

Tahini Sauce

Prepare this while your cauli-steaks marinate!

1/2 cup tahini

1/2 cup parsley leaves

1/4 cup cilantro leaves

1 garlic clove

juice of one lemon

2 tablespoons water

salt and pepper to taste

What to do!

Toss all ingredients into your food processor and blend until smooth. If the sauce is too thick add a little water. You’re looking for a ranch dressing consistency.

Roasted Garlic Two Bean Purée

Prepare this while your cauliflower steaks are in the oven for perfect timing!

1 can chickpeas

1 can cannellini beans

1 small head of garlic roasted*

1/2 cup diced yellow onion

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 low sodium vegetable boullion cube

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

What to do!

Cook your onions in a little olive oil over medium heat. Cook until the onions are softened and translucent.

When the onions are cooked add the beans and boullion cube and cook until the beans are thoroughly heated.

Remove the bean mixture from the oven and toss it into your food processor.

Squeeze the roasted garlic right into the food processor and add the salt, pepper and cumin.

Purée until smooth, if too thick add a little water. You want the consistency of a thick mashed potatoes. Serve with your beautiful cauliflower steaks and tahini sauce. Yum!

*To roast your garlic: Snip the top off of the entire head of garlic.  Wrap the entire head in foil and bake at 375˚ for 30 minutes. Let cool, and unwrap. Squeeze the garlic to remove the roasted cloves. Yeah!

It seems like forever since I decided to start sharing my food ideas and recipes with you all. I often hear that living a plant based lifestyle is too difficult, too expensive, lacking in protein, boring… the list goes on and on- and is so not true! My hope is that through this blog you can use my culinary training (Yep. It was a blast being the only vegetarian in culinary school-ha!) and over ten years of vegetarian/vegan/raw trial and error to your benefit. Let me show you how simple it really is to create delicious, healthful meals from real whole ingredients every day. Now…without further ado, my first official recipe post! I hope you enjoy!

I was inspired by the beautiful organic summer corn that seems to be everywhere these days and decided that my Green Chile Corn Chowder would be a great start to this blogging adventure! 

Green Chile Corn Chowder

Vegan and Gluten free.

1 small onion

1 stalk celery

1 medium pasilla pepper

1 small red bell pepper

2 cloves garlic- minced

3 medium yukon gold potatoes

2 ears of corn, shucked, roasted and removed from cobb (or 2 cups frozen fire roasted corn)

2 tablespoons vegan buttery spread or coconut oil

5 cups vegetable stock (if not home made, low sodium)

1/4 cup cashews- soaked at least 4 hours, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp cumin

salt and pepper to taste

• Cut the onion, peppers, celery and potatoes into a small dice.
• In a medium sized pot, melt the buttery spread (or coconut oil) and sauté the onions, peppers, celery, cumin, a little salt, pepper and garlic until the onions are translucent.
• Add the vegetable stock, corn and potatoes and bring to a simmer.
• While the chowder simmers toss the cashews, nutritional yeast and 1/2 cup water into the blender. Blend until smooth. If you do not have a high speed blender this make take a few blend cycles. Leave this mix in the blender and set aside.
• Cover and simmer the chowder until then potatoes are soft and falling apart.  About 35 minutes. Taste your chowder for seasoning and add a little salt and pepper if you feel it needs it. Trust your instinct, you’ve got this!
• When the potatoes are soft, remove about 1/2 of the chowder and carefully place into the blender with the cashew mix.
• Blend until almost smooth, then pour back into the pot with the rest of the chowder.
• Bring back to a simmer and cook 5-10 minutes more or until thickened, check your seasoning one more time and serve! Let me know how yours turned out!