Every year, I try to come up with some kind of vegan main dish, like a roulade or Wellington for Thanksgiving. But instead of coming up with something elaborate and involved this year, I decided to simplify, and ended up trying out cauliflower steaks—again. The first time I tried this dish was at Upstairs on the Square in Cambridge (RIP in January), and loved its unique texture: crispy and caramelized around the edges, and succulent and rich towards the center.
These are not only easy to make, but also can be made ahead, chilled, then recrisped right before dinner, making it a good option to bring along with you as a guest at the traditional holiday table. Recrisping the steaks and reheating the gravy won’t take up any real estate in the oven, and will only require a few minutes in a cast iron pan on the stovetop with a little olive oil.
To get this beautiful color and crispy texture around the edges, you simply roast the cauliflower in the oven for about an hour in a cast iron pan. For this application, I just rubbed olive oil and sage onto the outside of the steaks, then sprinkled with salt and pepper before roasting it. To give it more of a holiday feel, I made an oyster mushroom gravy to create a well-balanced and beautifully simple dish. The texture of the oyster mushrooms with the cauliflower complimented each other perfectly, but crimini, bella or shiitakes would work here as well. This recipe makes enough gravy to slather over stuffing and potatoes or drizzle over biscuits the next morning.
ROASTED CAULIFLOWER STEAKS WITH OYSTER MUSHROOM GRAVY
- Total Time: 1 hours
- Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients
for the cauliflower steaks
- 2, 1 1/2-inch thick slices of cauliflower (how-to below)
- 1 TB, plus 1 tsp olive oil
- 2 tsp rubbed sage
- salt and pepper
for the oyster mushroom gravy
- 1–2 tsp Earth Balance
- 2 shallots, sliced
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup chopped oyster mushrooms (cut away tough stems and freeze and reserve for making stock later)
- 2 TB dry white wine
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 TB cornstarch or arrowroot powder, blended with 2 TB cold water
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- To cut your cauliflower steaks, place a head of cauliflower stem side down on a cutting board. Using a large knife, slice it down the very middle. Then cut down again on each half to create two, 1 1/2-inch thick slabs.
- Grease a cast iron pan with 1 TB of olive oil. Place the steaks onto the pan, and drizzle over the remaining 1 tsp of olive oil over the tops of the steaks. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp of the sage over the top of each steak, rubbing it into the oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and place into the oven to roast on one side for 25-30 minutes, keeping an eye on it after 20 minutes, ensuring that it does not burn on the bottom.
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After the steaks are nicely roasted on the bottom, carefully flip them over, then rub the remaining rubbed sage over the top. Return to the oven to roast for an additional 25-30 minutes, keeping an eye on them to prevent burning after 20 minutes.*
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While your cauliflower is roasting, make your gravy.
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Melt the vegan butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add in the sliced shallots and sprinkle with the salt. Saute until softened, about 3 minutes, then add in the garlic and saute for 1 minute more.
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Increase the heat to medium, then add the chopped oyster mushrooms. After 2 minutes, increase the heat to medium high and saute for 1 minute more. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping up any bits on the bottom of the pan with a spatula. Add in the broth, bring to a small simmer, then reduce the heat back down to medium. Allow to reduce for 15-20 minutes.**
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*Serve the steaks immediately with the gravy. Or, if you are serving it later, just recrisp the chilled cauliflower steaks on a stovetop in a hot cast iron pan on both sides with a little oil until heated through.
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**If you are serving the gravy immediately, add in half of the cornstarch/water slurry to the gravy and stir until thickened, adding more as needed. If you are serving the steaks later, wait to add the cornstarch or arrowroot/water slurry until you are reheating the gravy.
- Cook Time: 1 hours
Wow, you got some amazing color on those! My family is in charge of Thanksgiving this year so no vegan main dish for me, just sides. I bet they would love this, though, it looks so crispy and delicious.
wow! this looks unbelievable! now i know what i'm making for thanksgiving!
Thank you Caitlin! I hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving! xo
This looks great. I am thinking of making a seitan turkey and having cauliflower as well. Do you think this gravy will work on the seitan? also how much does it make? have you thought about taking photos along the cooking process so we can see how it looks as it comes together? that is helpful to me especially. Love you recipes and photos! thanks Erin!
Thanks Maureen! This gravy will work fine with seitan — there is no dominant herb or flavor here that will compete with anything else. It makes about 1 1/2 cups gravy.
We don't do process shots that often simply because we haven't worked out a good system yet with lighting, logistics, etc. YET : ) — but your suggestion that it would be helpful will definitely make us take a closer look into doing that in the future!
awww, I love Love LOVE that we were on the same wavelength but took completely different turns with it – this sounds amazing!
Kristina, I love what you did with your steaks! I was wondering if you could bread the entire thing—I will definitely give your version a try!
Very creative, this looks amazing!
incredible flavor! made the gravy with dried oyster mushrooms soaked in broth and sherry instead of white wine. i think my broth base is a little salty to begin with, so the gravy was pretty salty, too. made some quinoa & that soaked it up nicely. i'm not sure if the cast iron is essential, but next time i'll try roasting in glass so i can make more at a time. two little slices cook down to two littler plates of cauliflower. and we easily could have eaten the whole head. 🙂 thanks for a nice recipe.
Thanks for your feedback Courtney — I am happy you liked, and were able to adjust here and there to your liking. Yes, I think I could probably eat a whole head of this too! : )
I only have one cast iron pan but would need to make enough for 4 people. Do these work well on a cookie sheet instead? Any other suggestions on how to oven roast these without cast iron? Thanks! Looks fantastic!!!!
Yes, you can use a cookie sheet or glass pyrex … just make sure the steaks are oiled to ensure the steaks develop some good color. I hope you and your guests enjoy!
Hi Erin! I'm looking forward to trying this recipe. How much would you say the gravy should be boiling while it's reducing? It looks like your last paragraph mentions medium heat, but for me that would bring a pretty hearty boil (I think). Is there any risk of overcooking the mushrooms, or is the goal for them to be really cooked down?
Thanks 🙂
Hi Sarah! Feel free to use whatever heat setting keeps it at a constant simmer. There is no risk of overcooking the mushrooms, as long as they are in liquid. In fact, the longer you cook, the better they taste, in my opinion! I hope you enjoy and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Would this work as well without using a cast iron pan, do you think?
Annie, You won’t get that same color with a non-stick or stainless, but it should still work!
FYI I just made this using a baking sheet greased with olive oil instead of the cast iron pan (since I don’t have one big enough for two steaks) and it turned out great. Really delicious all by itself (without the mushroom gravy) btw.
Thanks for the recipe!
Matt, Thanks for the feedback, I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
Erin, my granddaughter has recently become vegetarian and I think cauliflower steaks would be great for her main dish for Christmas dinner (I will be serving a standing rib roast). There will be other meatless sides she can eat. I’d love to have a gravy for her, but she dislikes mushrooms. Any suggestions for a substitute?
Molly,
I think you could make this version of gravy without mushrooms and it would still work! Oh She Glows also has a great mushroom-less gravy: https://ohsheglows.com/2010/10/04/tick-tock-racing-against-the-clock/
I made this this year for christmas dinner for myself! perfect recipe if you’re only cooking for 1 or 2
★★★★★
So happy you enjoyed. 🙂
Made this for my husband for Father’s Day and he loved it! definitely as he says, “a keeper”. The only thing was I made it in my 360 pan on the stove top because I didn’t want to heat up the kitchen. Such a simple yet delicious recipe, Thank you!
★★★★★