Roasted Cauliflower Steak & Savory Palmiers
In case you missed our virtual cooking class while we made this recipe, or you just want a paper copy, here you are! Also, click here to re-watch the video and be able to follow along if you get confused at any point!
Be sure to share this on all your social media platforms, and send me photos of your dish! This is such an incredibly versatile dish, in terms of what spices you can use, and garnishes that can be swapped out. Want to do something a bit more Asian inspired? Throw some miso, sesame seeds, soy sauce and red pepper paste on top! Southern? Buffalo works great too.
The palmiers are one of my favorite French appetizers. They are SO easy, but look so fancy, and are so tasty. These are also super versatile. You can throw in some chopped prosciutto and dijon mustard for a more rich route, or even take it sweet and spread the puff pastry with a mix of simple syrup and cinnamon!
Anyway, thank you all for sticking with my team and I through these hard times, and we hope to be back in action soon.
Ingredients for Cauliflower Steak:
One head of cauliflower
One 8oz package of shiitake mushrooms
Fresh basil, thyme, and sage (one bunch of each is fine, these are for garnish)
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt, pepper, paprika, and cumin
Unsalted butter
Vegetable stock
Instructions for Cauliflower Steak:
Preheat your oven to 375° and set aside your cast iron skillet, and one small sheet pan
To butcher the cauliflower, first you want to remove as many of the green roots as possible with your hands from the base of the vegetable. Next, take your knife and slice off as much of the root as you can without going into the actual cauliflower. You want the cauliflower to be able to sit on your cutting board, root side down, flat and have it not be shaking back and forth.
Slice two inches off each side of the cauliflower so you are left with one very thick "slice" of cauliflower. Next, take your knife and slowly cut that very thick slice into two slices, leaving you with two cauliflower "steaks". If you are confused on this step, re-watch my cooking lesson here and you can scrub through the video for each step.
Take your sheet pan, and coat the bottom with a little olive oil, and your spices (salt, pepper, paprika, and cumin). Lay the cauliflower steaks root side down onto the spices and rub the vegetable around until that side is fully coated with your olive oil and spice mix.
Before turning it onto the other side, coat that un-seasoned side of the cauliflower with your oil, and spices. Then flip the cauliflower and continue rubbing around on the sheet pan until both sides are fully coated.
Turn your cast iron skillet onto medium high heat and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Heat until oil just starts to smoke, and add in your cauliflower steaks. Sear on both sides for 90-120 seconds each side, until you have a nice golden brown crust on both sides.
Turn burner down to medium low heat, and add in 4 tablespoons of butter, and 1/4 cup of vegetable stock, bring the stock to a boil and put entire pan into your 375° oven for 10-15 minutes, or until base stalk of the cauliflower is knife tender.
While the cauliflower is baking, heat up one tablespoon of olive oil in another pan to sear your shiitake mushrooms in.
Once the pan is heated up over medium high heat, and the oil is just about to start smoking, add in your mushrooms and let them sear on one side before you start to stir and toss them around in the pan.
Give them a toss, and start to get them fully cooked and seared the best you can. After about 2 minutes, turn the heat down to medium low and add in 1/4 cup of vegetable stock to deglaze the bottom of the pan, and let that liquid reduce almost 100%.
Take your cauliflower out of the oven once they are knife tender, and then spoon your mushroom mix right on top of the cauliflower, and top with freshly chopped herbs (I used basil, thyme and sage).
Ingredients for Palmiers:
One sheet of frozen puff pastry (thawed)
Jarred minced garlic (fresh works too)
2 sprigs fresh rosemary (leaves removed, and loosely chopped)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Instructions for Palmiers:
Preheat oven to 400°.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper.
Unroll your thawed puff pastry and lay flat on your cookie pan to let sit while you prepare filling.
Into a pan on medium heat, add 4 tablespoons of minced garlic, 2 sprigs of rosemary leaves (loosely chopped) and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
Heat through until garlic and rosemary become fragrant and the rosemary has just slightly wilted. You want to make sure that the rosemary is wilted a little, because raw rosemary will have a bit too much of a crunch in the puff pastry and it won't be the most satisfying thing in the culinary world.
Spread your filling onto the flat puff pastry, as best you can. You don't have to worry about getting everything inch.
To roll the pastry, you want to roll both ends into each other so they meet in the middle. Again, this is a bit hard to explain over text, so if you need some help, rewatch the video here to see what I mean.
Once rolled, slice 10-12 one inch slices all the way down, and lay evenly onto the baking sheet with parchment paper. Be sure to leave at least one to two inches in between each puff pastry, as they will expand quite a bit in the oven.
Place into the 400° oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 375° and bake for another 15 minutes, or until the puff pastry is a golden brown.
Remove from the tray once cooled, and simply top with some olive oil, salt and pepper and you are all done!
ENJOY!