Cauliflower Steaks with Stewed Tomato, Olive, & Carrot Sauce

Ingredients*
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2.5 Tablespoons thinly sliced garlic
2 cups chopped red onion
1 cup grated carrots
1 stalk celery with leaves, chopped
1 teaspoon salt, divided in two
3 cups chopped Roma tomatoes
1 cup pitted olives, chopped
1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice** (optional, see notes)
.25 cups chopped fresh basil
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
A few sprigs of parsley, to garnish

Directions


Clean, chop, measure, and gather all sauce ingredients. Once you get the sauce going, there isn’t much time for chopping.

Heat a skillet over medium heat, and then add olive oil. When the oil is glistening, add sliced garlic. Let the garlic heat until fragrant, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Add the chopped onions and cook for 1 – 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are softened.

Add the chopped celery and grated carrot and stir to combine. At this point, I add half the salt, stir, and taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften, approximately 3 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and the rest of the salt and stir to combine. Stir occasionally until the liquid begins to evaporate, about 4 – 5 minutes. Add lemon juice, and then begin to stir constantly as the sauce thickens.

Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 4 minutes. If you swipe your spoon along the bottom of the skillet, you should be able to see the bottom. There should still be some liquid, but it should not rush to fill the space. Add the olives and herbs and cook, stirring, for another 3 minutes. If the sauce is evaporating too quickly, you may add a little water, tomato juice, or broth 1 tablespoon at a time as needed.

Stir in salt and pepper to taste. Keep the sauce warm over low heat or cool and transfer to a closed container to store in the refrigerator. When serving, sprinkle with some freshly chopped parsley.

Notes:

*The lemon juice is optional, depending on how tart you like your sauces. Or, if your carrots and tomatoes are very sweet, you may like to add more lemon juice.

**The ingredients are somewhat flexible. For example, I used green and black olives, but the sauce is still wonderful if you omit the olives or use other varieties. You can swap out the carrots for zucchini, or add mushrooms or eggplant. The sky is the limit. Think of it as a veggiefied tomato sauce. The base is the garlic, onion, tomato, and herbs. Add or remove the other veggies as you see fit.

Ingredients
1 large head of cauliflower
1 – 2 Tablespoons olive oil, for drizzling
Zest of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper, to taste 

Directions

Preheat the grill on high heat. The temperature should be very hot – around 500 degrees.

Rinse cauliflower and cut vertically in the middle with a sharp knife. To make the “steaks,” cut again about one inch on either side of the cut edge (this should be the thickest part). Cut off any bits of stem or leaves, leaving a bit of the stem so that the steak holds together. Reserve the rest of the cauliflower for another use.

Drizzle olive oil over the cauliflower steaks on each side and brush to coat. Sprinkle lemon zest, salt, and pepper over the steaks.

Add the steaks to the grill once the grill is hot. Sear for approximately 1 minute on each side, creating charred grill marks. Then, lower the heat to medium-high or between 400 and 450 degrees.

Cook each side on medium high for 6 – 7 minutes, until a fork easily pierces the cauliflower.

Add salt and pepper or a drizzle of olive oil to taste. Serve immediately.