vegan friendly

Cauliflower Steaks with Walnut Caper Salsa

Happy New Year, Friends!

Here’s to a happy and healthier year ahead. With that in mind comes lots of new healthy recipes and in 2018, I am definitely going to focus on more plant-based eats. I came across this amazing recipe a few weeks back from Bon Appetit and finally got around to making these delicious cauliflower steaks. Wow wow wow!! It is a new favourite that I’ll make again and again.

Check out the dish below (with a few modifications) from one of my favourite recipe sources – Bon Appetit

Cauliflower Steaks with Walnut Caper Salsa (yields 2-3)

Walnut Caper Salsa

  • ⅓ cup walnuts (toasted)
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 3 tbsp drained capers, patted dry
  • 1 chile pepper or hot pepper of your choice, seeds removed, finely chopped
  • 3 tbsp coarsely chopped parsley
  • 1 tbsp dried currants
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
  • Himalayan Salt

Cauliflower 

  • 1 small head of cauliflower
  • Himalayan salt
  • 1-2 garlic cloves, finely grated
  • 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp tahini
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp earth balance all natural spread or butter
  • 2-3 sprigs oregano
  • 2-4 strips lemon zest
  • Lemon wedges (for serving)

Salsa Prep:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Toast walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until golden brown, 7–10 minutes. Let cool, then coarsely chop.
  2. Heat oil and capers in a small saucepan over medium, swirling often, until capers burst and are golden brown and crisp, about 8 minutes. Carefully pour oil and capers into a small heatproof bowl; let cool.
  3. Mix in walnuts, chile, parsley, currants, vinegar, and lemon zest; season with salt.** Salsa can be made 1 day ahead, covered with plastic, pressing directly onto surface. Bring to room temperature before using **

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Cauliflower Prep & Assembly:

  1. Remove the toughest outer leaves from cauliflower (leave on any tender inner leaves). Trim stem to create a flat base. Resting cauliflower on stem, cut in half from top to bottom, creating two lobes with stem attached. Trim outer rounded edge of each piece to create two 1½”-thick “steaks” (the stem should hold the florets together); set steaks aside. Very coarsely chop remaining florets.
  2. Cook florets in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until very tender, 6–8 minutes. Drain well, then process in a food processor with garlic, lemon juice, tahini, and 1 tbsp water until smooth; season with salt. Set aside. **Purée  can also be made a day in advance and heated before plating**
  3. Heat oven to  425° for roasting cauliflower.
  4. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add earth balance spread or butter, swirl until melted, then add cauliflower steaks, oregano, and lemon zest. Cook, gently lifting up cauliflower occasionally to let hot fat run underneath, until steaks are deep golden brown (if oregano or lemon start to burn, place on top of steaks). Turn steaks and season with salt. Transfer skillet to oven and roast until cauliflower stems are fork-tender, 10–15 minutes.
  5. To serve, spoon about 1/4 cup cauliflower purée onto plates and place steaks on top. Spoon salsa over and sprinkle with salt. Serve with lemon wedges.

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Bon Appetit! xx

Chipotle Sweet Potato Noodles

I love Mexican flavours and try to often think of interesting ways to incorporate the flavour profiles outside of the beloved taco. Even though, I could eat taco’s every single day!

After a little inspiration from Pinch of Yum, this Chipotle Sweet Potato Noodle recipe is a new favourite dish added to the weeknight rotation!IMG_3283

Sweet, spicy, smokey, hearty and fresh; this noodle recipe is simple and healthy and an easy go-to recipe to whip up. The chipotle dressing and sweet potato noodles make for an amazing base that you can simply add any toppings of your choice and you are set for a delicious meal. I worked with what I had on hand, peppers, tomatoes, jalapeno, kale, avocado, pepitas, goat feta, and cilantro. However, this would be equally as awesome with some black beans and roasted corn. And you can easily omit the cheese to keep this vegan friendly.

Here’s the dish –

Sweet Potato Noodle Bowl (yields 4-6 servings)
  • olive oil
  • 2 sweet potatoes
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • 1 jalapeno, diced
  • 1 tomato, diced
  • 1 avocado, diced
  • 1 cup chopped cilantro
  • 1 cup chopped greens – kale, spinach, arugula, etc (I love black kale!)
  • 1/2 cup raw pepitas
  • 1/4 cup goat feta or cojita (or opt for no cheese)

Chipotle Lime Dressing:

  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 2-3 tablespoons water
  • juice of one orange
  • juice of one lime
  • 2-4 individual chipotle peppers, canned in adobo sauce
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 teaspoon agave or honey
  • pinch of Himalayan sea saltFullSizeRender (8)
  1. Heat a little bit of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add chopped peppers and saute until soft.
  2. Pulse the dressing ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Taste and adjust to your liking.
  3. Remove, wipe skillet and add a little more olive oil over medium heat. Add the sweet potato noodles and toss for a minute or two until softened (no more than 5). Also, toss in a 2 TBSP of the dressing to coat noodles.
  4. Once slightly cooked, toss the noodles, peppers, kale, cilantro, and pepitas together.
  5. Toss with the salad ingredients and top with tomato, avocado and crumbled cheese.

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Dig In. xx