food comas

I found this recipe randomly on epicurious.com when I was searching for hearty appetizers for my Christmas Eve Eve dinner. What appealed to me is the combination of all the ingredients I really love: cauliflower, tomatoes, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, etc. I made a few changes to the original recipe, which I will note below.

Cauliflower Steaks with Olive Relish and Tomato Sauce (adapted from epicurious.com)

Yield: 4 large servings or more smaller ones

Ingredients:

• 1 large head of cauliflower (I could only find a small one at my grocery store, so I increased proportions of everything else to have a bigger dish)
• 1/2 cup pitted oil-packed black olives, finely chopped (I couldn’t find oil-packed olives, so used a jar of olives in water)
• 3 sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided, plus more
• 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 garlic cloves (I had made Garlic Confit to make my main dish, a Herb-Crusted Rack of Lamb with Honey-Mustard Glaze, so I decided to use some leftover garlic gloves from that instead of fresh ones)
• 2 plum tomatoes, cored, quartered
• feta crumbles (optional, someone suggested this in the comments and I borrowed the idea, and it was a great addition)

Directions:

Remove leaves and trim stem end of cauliflower, leaving core intact. Place cauliflower core side down on a work surface. Using a large knife, slice cauliflower into four 1/2″ “steaks” from center of cauliflower (some florets will break loose; reserve). Finely chop enough loose florets to measure 1/2 cup. Transfer chopped florets to a small bowl and mix with olives, sun-dried tomatoes, 1 tablespoon oil, parsley, and lemon juice. Season relish with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 400°. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large heavy ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Working in 2 batches, cook cauliflower steaks until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side, adding tablespoon oil to pan between batches. Transfer steaks to a large rimmed baking sheet. Reserve skillet. Roast cauliflower until tender, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, return skillet to medium-high heat and add garlic cloves and tomatoes, one cut side down. Here I only cooked the tomatoes, since the garlic confit I used was previously cooked. Cook until tomatoes are browned; turn tomatoes over and transfer skillet to oven with cauliflower.Roast garlic and tomatoes until tender, about 12 minutes.

Transfer garlic, tomatoes, and 1/2 tablespoon oil to a blender; purée until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Divide tomato sauce among plates. Place 1 cauliflower steak on each plate; spoon relish over. Sprinkle with feta crumbles. Serve warm or at room temperature.