There are three kitchen tools I will always have: a good chefs knife, my flour grinder, and my high speed blender. Everything else I could do without (I've even learned my stand-mixer is a nice-to-have). With these three things, I can do pretty much anything I could ever want. You might balk at the flour grinder but once you start grinding your own flour- you won't go back. And the blender? It's booted my food processor off the counter.
This fried cauliflower is made because of the romesco sauce. If you've never tried this sauce before, I cannot recommend it enough. A few toasted nuts are combined with roasted red pepper, herbs, and spices to form a powerful sauce (and the reason for mentioning the blender!) You could also make the sauce in a mortar and pestle but I love the creaminess the blender lends.
PrintFried Cauliflower with Romesco Sauce and Quinoa
A perfect vegetarian fork-and-knife dinner with a tender fried cauliflower slice smothered with homemade romesco sauce.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Main Course
Ingredients
Quinoa
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 cup water
- Pinch of salt
Cauliflower
- 1 large head of cauliflower
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Romesco Sauce
- ¼ cup slivered almonds
- ¼ cup hazelnut pieces
- 1 large roasted red pepper
- 1 garlic clove
- ¼ cup tomato puree
- 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ cup olive oil
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
- Rinse quinoa and place in a medium pot with broth, water, and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 12 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit until ready to serve.
- While the quinoa is cooking, remove the greens from the cauliflower and cut right in half. Slice a ½” thick slice of cauliflower from each half. Set aside remaining cauliflower for another use. Heat a skillet over medium-low. Add olive oil in a skillet large enough to hold both cauliflower slices, or work in batches. Add cauliflower slices to the heated oil and fry on each side until golden, 4 to 5 minutes on each side. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and transfer to a plate.
- In a small, dry skillet, add the almonds and hazelnut pieces over medium heat. Shaking the skillet often, lightly toast the nuts until fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes.
- In a food processor or small blender, combine the ingredients for the romesco sauce, including the toasted nuts. Puree until the sauce is fairly well smooth. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired
- Serve the fried cauliflower over quinoa and spoon romesco on top.
Notes
Tips and Tricks: You most likely will have leftover romesco sauce. Use it in this romesco potato pizza or romesco green beans.
Stock up: Get the pantry ingredients you will need: cauliflower, quinoa, parsley
Nutrition: See the information (this includes the quinoa + using all the sauce).
Nutrition
- Calories: 760
- Sugar: 7.2
- Sodium: 794
- Fat: 60.9
- Carbohydrates: 46.6
- Fiber: 10.5
- Protein: 14.9
- Cholesterol: 0
Fried Cauliflower
variations
There is really nothing quite like slicing and frying cauliflower. I've made similar 'steaks' from celeriac and fennel before but the flavor of each is more pronounced. Broccoli would work in place of the cauliflower, I just find cutting the heads of broccoli to be a bit more of a pain.
Roast/Grill: I know not everyone reading this will want to fry the cauliflower. That's fine- there are other ways! I like to lightly steam the cauliflower then grill in a pan. You could also roast the cauliflower until tender.
Grains/Salads: I like using quinoa because of the protein boost but you could use any grain you have on hand. Amaranth is also quick cooking/complete protein like quinoa.
Romesco: Switch up the romesco by using a green variation.
Explore Cauliflower
Occasionally at the market, cauliflower will be sold by the head instead of by the pound. I seek out the largest head I can find and can easily make about 3 meals from it. This cauliflower salad is a nice, light recipe but a few other options:
Cajun Cauliflower with Cilantro Avocado Sauce
Cauliflower Pasta with Lemon-Almond Sauce
Curried Cauliflower Wrap
Kim Nolan says
This dish looks wonderful and I must try this sometime. Which high-speed blender are you using and why is it preferred over a food processor? I'm looking to boot my subpar blender and invest in a food processor so I can have the option to grind up dry items, perhaps there is such a blender that can do this??
★★★★★
Erin Alderson says
Hi Kim- I use a Blendtec. I've had it for 4 years and it's my workhorse. I can go from grinding flour to making the smoothest hummus. I know Vitamix also makes a great machine but I can't speak for that. I think the blender is a bit more versatile than a food processor. What kind of dry items are you looking to grind?
Kim Nolan says
Hello Erin! Thank you for sharing, I just did a bit of research and Blendtec sounds fantastic. Dry hard foods I want to grind are nuts and sweet potatoes, but really I want to pulse/blend/chop everything under the sun! I've just starting transitioning into a high plant-based diet and I never found the need for a food processor until now, it allows for so much creativity and variety!
Maria says
YUM!! Love romesco and cauliflower. This sounds delicious! I am such a cauli-steak fan! I typically prefer the roasted cauli flavor better, is there a particular reason you decided to fry it for this recipe? Just curious:)
Erin Alderson says
I'm usually with you- 90% of the time I roast cauliflower. This method is a bit faster and I like the sear on the cauliflower. Browning from roasting just isn't quite the same.
Izzy Bruning says
Looks amazing!!!
Izzy | Pinch of delight
Susan says
This sounds absolutely wonderful. I've been craving to eat lighter lately, so I hope I'll be able to make it soon.
Laura says
Just wondering - is the calorie count of 760 for 2 servings or 1?
Erin Alderson says
1 but that's also accounting for half the sauce. Most likely the calories would be quite a bit less because there's a good chance you wouldn't use all the sauce.
Laura says
Thanks for clarifying!
Yael Tamar says
Hey, i love anything with cauliflower combo and this one is really worth to try as it looks sooooo delicious, hope my kids enjoys the taste.