Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with Homemade Romesco

Why You’ll Love this Recipe

• Very easy preparation
• Flavorful and delicious romesco sauce really wakes up the cauliflower.
• Romesco sauce goes well with many vegetables and proteins, so leftovers will be used!
• A great vegetarian option for a full meal.
• The romesco sauce can be made in advance for a great way to have an even easier and quicker meal on busy weekdays.

What is Romesco Sauce?

Salsa romesco is a versatile, flavorful Spanish sauce that can be used for dipping, on bread, or with a main course as we did here. It originates from Catalan in the northeast of Spain. We tasted several versions of this great sauce when we were in Spain and have since tailored ours to what we like the best.

Ingredients

Here is what you need to make this recipe:

For the Homemade Romesco Sauce:

• Red Bell Pepper: A red bell pepper added to the romesco gives it a nice flavor when roasted with the other vegetables.
• Tomatoes: Plum tomatoes work well here.
• Garlic: The recipe uses a good amount of fresh garlic cloves. But don't worry, this sauce isn’t garlicky, even though quite a bit of garlic is used.
• Onion: Just a small onion is used here for added flavor.
• Olive Oil: Good extra virgin olive oil is used in this recipe.
• Bread: We like to use french bread or a baguette. The bread is toasted then blended with the other ingredients to give the sauce some body.
• Almonds: Marcona almonds are a great Spanish indgredient and work perfectly here. Opt for unsalted if you want to control the salt content.
• Chili Powder: Because it is easy to find and gives a great flavor, we use 100% pasilla chili powder
• Vinegar: Sherry vinegar is the secret ingredient here as it really makes the sauce complete.
• Paprika: Sweet Spanish paprika is our favorite here.
• Kosher Salt: Sea salt works here as well.

For the Cauliflower

• Cauliflower: You should be able to get two intact steaks from a whole head of fresh cauliflower. The remaining cauliflower florets can be saved and used for another meal (try out THIS recipe).
• White vinegar: ​This is added to cold water to soak the raw cauliflower steaks before cooking to ensure that there are no little critters or dirt hiding in the florets.
• Kosher Salt and Black Pepper
• Olive Oil: Used to sauté the cauliflower steaks.

See recipe card below for quantities.

Substitutions

Here are a couple of common substitutions for the ingredients in this recipe:

• Tomatoes: You could use other types of tomatoes with equally good results in the romesco, such as Campari tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, or even cherry tomatoes.
• Chili Powder: Although we like using pasilla chili powder, you can use a variety of other chili powders in this recipe.
• Paprika: You could use smoked paprika or hot paprika for a different flavor profile.
• Vinegar: ​Red wine vinegar or champagne vinegar can work here too, but sherry vinegar is preferred (and Spanish).
• Parsley: ​For garnish.

How to Make Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with Homemade Romesco

The romesco can be made in advance and requires roasting the vegetables and toasting the bread and almonds. Then everything but the remaining olive oil is added to a blender and finished by drizzling the oil into the running blender.

Equipment

Here is what you need to make this dish

• Blender for the romesco sauce
• Roasting tray for the vegetables
• Oven safe nonstick skillet for the cauliflower steaks

Step-by-Step Instructions

Roast the vegetables for the romesco

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat the red bell pepper (whole), whole plum tomatoes, garlic cloves, and onion (halved) with 1 ounce of the olive oil. Place the vegetables on a roasting tray, but pile the garlic up together so it doesn’t brown too much. Roast in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, remove and set aside to cool.

Prep the remaining ingredients for the sauce

• Toast the bread until it just barely starts to brown. If the almonds are not already roasted, using a little olive oil in a skillet, toast the almonds for about 30 seconds on medium heat to just brown them slightly. Once the vegetables are cool, peel and seed the bell pepper and tomatoes. 

Make the sauce

• Place all of the roasted vegetables into the blender along with the toasted bread, the almonds and the oil they cooked in, the chili powder, sherry vinegar, sweet paprika and salt (if using salted almonds, wait until the end then add salt to taste). Blend on medium while slowly pouring in the remaining extra virgin olive oil. Taste and add more salt or vinegar if needed. Set aside until the cauliflower is done. You will have plenty of leftover romesco, which can be used for different dishes.

Make the cauliflower steaks

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Rinse the head of the cauliflower under running water. Trim the stem and cut the cauliflower directly down the center of the stem. Then cut ¾ - 1 inch steaks from each of the cauliflower halves on the cut stem side. The stem will keep the steak intact. You can use the remaining cauliflower for another time.
• In a large bowl, add some cold water and about a teaspoon of white vinegar. Add the cauliflower steaks for just a few minutes. Remove, rinse, and dry the cauliflower steaks. Season both sides of the cauliflower with salt and pepper.
• In a large oven-safe skillet (preferably nonstick) add the olive oil over medium-high heat. Place the steaks in the pan for about 4 minutes on one side - you should have a nice golden brown crust on them. Flip the steaks and place in the oven immediately. They should take between 15 and 20 minutes to roast, depending on how soft you like your cauliflower. Test with a wooden skewer or toothpick on the stem and remove when they are cooked to your liking. Plate the steaks on a serving plate on top of a good amount of romesco and serve with some chopped parsley. 

Variations

Here are a couple ways to change up this recipe:

• Spice it up by using some hotter peppers in the romesco or make it a bit smoky by using smoked Spanish paprika.
• If you don’t want a whole cauliflower steak, you can use florets as well or even use broccoli instead or alongside the cauliflower!
• Use a yellow/orange bell pepper and yellow tomatoes for a golden romesco.
• If you prefer a sauce with a bit of texture, then place the sauce ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and process to your desired texture instead of using a blender.

Storage

How to store leftover romesco sauce:

• Keep the romesco sauce in the refrigerator for 7 days in a covered airtight container.

How to reheat leftover cauliflower:

• Simply reheat in an oven on 325°F until warmed through.

Can you freeze leftover romesco?

• Yes! It will keep for about 3-4 months without losing much flavor in a freezer-safe storage container.

Troubleshooting

It can be somewhat difficult to remove the seeds from the hot tomatoes after they roast. It is best to let everything cool before trying to remove the seeds from the tomatoes and pepper.

What to serve with Roasted Cauliflower Steaks

This is a nice vegetarian or vegan meal on its own, but serving some good rustic bread alongside so all the romesco sauce can be sopped up is a great idea too! We also like to serve this as a side dish with a variety of proteins. Romesco sauce is great with seafood, especially scallops and shrimp. It is also fantastic on chicken or pork.

What Wines To Drink with Roasted Cauliflower Steaks

Red, white, and rosé all work with the romesco and cauliflower. Think Spanish and go for a rioja, an albariño or a Spanish rosé.