A comforting vegan meal or accompaniment to other protein is created by pan searing cauliflower steaks brushed with a smoky harissa glaze. The tender cauliflower steaks are served over a garlicky puree of white beans and rapini (a.k.a. broccoli rabe). Balsamic vinegar in the glaze as well as drizzled on top gives the dish a sweet tang.
prep: 25 mins
Cook time:25 mins
total: 50 mins
I’ve been wanting to make cauliflower steaks for awhile now, but I wanted to prepare them in a way that makes a complete meal. Serving them over a puree of white beans, garlicky and smooth, is a great option, but I wanted to incorporate another vegetable, and since I’ve also been wanting to prepare rapini, also known as broccoli rabe, forever, this recipe was a great melding of the two. The bean and rapini puree create a beautiful green back drop for the harissa glazed cauliflower steaks. Dig in! Not only does this recipe make a filling vegan or vegetarian meal, it can be a wonderful accompaniment to a meal that features animal protein.
What you’ll love about this recipe!
🍽️ Complete meal: The recipe includes beans, a bitter green and a cruciferous vegetable, which makes a great vegan meal.
🍽️ Easy: glazing the cauli and searing it, while sautéing bean puree ingredients, then blending them, and your meal is ready in under 45 minutes.
🧂 🧄 Flavor: from the harissa and balsamic vinegar in the glaze, to the garlic in the puree, there is lot’s of flavor in this dish.
🧅 Garnishes: crispy ready made fried onions and toasted sunflower seeds add a welcome crunch to the dish.
Ingredient notes and substitutions
- Cauliflower- it is quite easy to cut a head of cauliflower into slabs, or “steaks”, which are quite filling. You can substitute any number of other cruciferous veg that grow as a “head”, such as romanesco, colored cauliflower, cabbages or even celeriac root (not cruciferous but cooks up well when cut into steaks and cooked).
- Harissa spices- While traditional store-bought harissa is based mostly on a spicy red pepper blended into a perishable paste, there are often other spices added. I’ve created a dry spice harissa blend that offers more versatility and shelf life than those store bought pastes. For this recipe, simply stick with cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, garlic, and chili powder to get a great harissa flavor, or add in the less common caraway and sumac to really get a wonderfully round and interesting flavor.
- Rapini- Also known as broccoli rabe, this bitter green is a cruciferous vegetable just like cauliflower! I’ve found it usually comes in a pretty large bunch and you need 1/2 of a large bunch (about 6 oz) if you make this recipe as written, to serve four. Leftovers can be sautéed in olive oil and sliced garlic, and then broiled quickly with grated parmesan on top for a yummy side dish for another meal.
Above: options to substitute for white cauliflower steaks- use romanesco, colored cauliflower, celeriac root (shown at the top of the purple cauliflower), or even slabs of cabbage cut from a head of cabbage (not shown above).
Liquid Smoke
Don’t worry, liquid smoke is a natural product made from condensing the smoke of burning wood. The brand available to me has natural additives like vinegar, molasses, caramel color and salt, and others have even less.
Above a large bunch of rapini shown at left and the three ingredients needed to create the puree for under the cauli steaks.
What is rapini?
Rapini is also known by the name “broccoli rabe” and is a cruciferous vegetable similar to broccoli and broccolini, however, it is much more leafy than those two vegetables, and the leaves, buds and stems are all edible. I find it a bit more bitter than broccili, but rather mild once cooked.
Step-by-step instructions
1.Make the harissa glaze: once you have measured out the dry spices and decided whether or not to include sumac and ground caraway seeds, you simply whisk the spices, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and liquid smoke together.
2/3.Slice and glaze the cauliflower: Simply cut the bottom knob out of the cauliflower, but leaving the head intact, then starting in the center with one cut, cut steaks to each side of the center of the head, 1″ thick. The outer edges will be smaller pieces as shown below, but are still used. Coat the cauliflower with the glaze, ideally using a pastry brush, but if you do not have one, just drizzle and spread around with a spoon, spatula or your fingers.
4.Cook the cauliflower: Place the glazed cauliflower steaks in a preheated saute pan and leave to cook for about 5 minutes, then flip to cook another 5 minutes. You will be able to saute one head at a time, so two batches will be cooked.
5.Make the puree: while the cauliflower cooks, briefly saute the drained and rinsed beans, roughly chopped garlic and roughly chopped rapini in olive oil just for a few minutes to wilt the greens and allow the garlic to mellow in flavor, then puree in food processor until relatively smooth.
Above: At left the aromatic vegetables are sauteed to develop flavor, and then the fresh herbs are added to saute and further develop the flavors for the soup.
Above: you can see how pretty the browned cauliflower looks on top of the green puree. Here the sunflower seeds and crispy onions are the garnish, whereas you can see the balsamic glaze garnish in the photos at the top of the post.
Crispy Onions!
I don’t usually promote packaged foods, but I love these crispy onions found in the produce section of my local grocer, near the tofu and croutons, etc. They taste just right without too much grease or salt. Homemade fried shallots (just fry shallots in a shallow pan of oil) are also amazing, but I recommend these.
Tips for making and serving this recipe
- Full meal versus side dish: If you make this as a vegan or vegetarian meal, you could serve it with some bread, to make it more filling, though the cauliflower and white bean ingredients make it quite filling as is. As a side dish served with animal protein, it offers a welcome change from serving a grain or potato and I highly recommend it.
- Extra rapini: assuming your grocer sells the rapini in rather large (12 oz’ish) size bunches, you can easily eat the other half at another meal and my favorite way to prepare it is to simply saute it with garlic and olive oil, then broil briefly with some grated parmesan on top for a delicious side.
- Garnishes: I like the added crunch of the sunflower seeds and crispy onions, but you can also just use one or the other, and store bought balsamic glaze (a sweeter version of balsamic vinegar, reduced to a thicker glaze) or just plain old balsamic vinegar really add a great acid kick to balance our the garlic and harissa flavors.
Other recipes using my harissa spice blend
You can make a big batch of my Harissa spice blend (more than what is used in this recipe) and use on my Harissa Sticky Chicken Wings and Carrots, Mushroom Soft Tacos, Harissa Mushroom Bacon, or Spicy Popcorn Snack! Or, try my Harissa BBQ Sauce, used on my Pulled BBQ Mushroom Sandwich.
More favorite vegan mains
More favorite vegetarian mains
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Smoky Harissa Glazed Cauliflower Steaks with Rapini and White Bean Puree
Kitchen Tools
- 1 saute pan, I use cast iron, but any type that browns will work
- 1 food processor
Ingredients
- 2 cauliflower heads (can sub colored cauliflower or romanesco or celeriac root)
White Bean Puree Ingredients
- 1 can white beans (drained and rinsed)
- 1/2 bunch rapini (a.k.a. broccoli rabe) (approx. 6 oz.)
- 1 garlic clove, medium (or two small)
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil
Harissa Glaze Ingredients
- 2 tbsp harissa spices (LISTED BELOW)
- 2-3 tsp liquid smoke (I use Colgin's)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Harissa Spices (all ground)
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp coriander
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
Additional Optional Spices (because harder to get for some)
- 1/2 tsp sumac
- 1/2 tsp caraway (likely have to grind from seeds)
Optional Garnishes
- 1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup crispy onions (see post, I like Fresh Gourmet brand)
- 2 tbsp balsamic glaze (or balsamic vinegar)
Method:
Make Harissa Glaze (5 min- mix ingredients together)
- Mix 2 tbsp harissa spices , 2-3 tsp liquid smoke, 1/4 cup olive oil, and 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar together in small bowl. See notes
Prepare Cauliflower Steaks for Cooking (10 min – clean, slice, & glaze + 10 min to cook two batches)
- Wash 2 cauliflower heads, then cut off leaves and cut into bottom stem just enough to remove the tough bottom inch or so. See Notes.
- place cauliflower head facing up and cut through center of head, then cut 1" thick "steaks" to each side of center. The outermost cut will create a couple florets that separate versus steaks. It's all good. Do the same with other head. See photo in post for illustration of how head looks as it is cut.
- Lay the steaks out on cutting board and glaze with harissa mixture on both sides as well as along the edges.
- Heat up pan (I use cast iron, but non-stick or stainless works just as well. Heat pan to temperature you know works for your type of pan). Lay cauli steaks in pre-heated pan and cook for about 5 minutes, turning when underside is nice and seared. I found the cauliflower steaks are just fork tender after 5 minutes per side in the cast iron skillet. One head's worth of steaks should fit in the pan, so you will need to saute two batches (or just one if you make this as a side dish or to serve 2 people as a main meal).
Prepare White Bean and Rapini Puree (5 min to chop, 5 min to cook, 5 min to blend)
- While the cauliflower steaks are cooking, heat up the ingredients for the puree by placing the 1-2 tbsp olive oil, roughly chopped 1 garlic clove, medium , 1/2 bunch rapini (a.k.a. broccoli rabe), and 1 can white beans(drained and rinsed) in another saute pan over medium heat to meld and soften for about 5 minutes. Mostly you want the garlic to mellow by cooking it and the rapini to wilt.
- Place the cooked ingredients in a food processor and blend until desired consistency is achieved. Based on the rapini being a large part of the puree, it will not get entirely smooth. This is fine. It will taste delicious.
Serve the steaks (5 min to plate, garnish)
- You can spread the puree on a serving platter and lay the steaks over the puree for a nice presentation at the table. Garnish as you wish. My favorite garnishes are those 1/2 cup crispy onions condiment you pick up at the grocery store, 1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds and a drizzle of 2 tbsp balsamic glaze (or vinegar).
