It’s a late birthday gift to her because her 21st birthday landed during a very busy time at Ginger and Baker. I asked her if she wanted a gift or an experience and she chose the latter. We decided an “old world” country with classic food, museums, art and history would be exactly the kind of place we’d both enjoy. I’m looking forward to sharing the foods and recipes with our friends, guests and students when I get back!
Today’s recipe is a simple and satisfying way to cook and serve cauliflower. It’s important to note the way to bring the most flavor and depth to the dish is to make sure you achieve the “Maillard reaction” when you sear and the roast cauliflower. If you’ve taken our culinary classes you know the Maillard reaction is when the sugars and proteins caramelize… in easy terms, we want to see some char on the vegetable. Not lightly brown or golden in color, we want a deep rich walnut brown to almost black in spots. Char… it’s a great culinary term. Let’s see a little char on that vegetable steak!!
You’ll also notice we used a prepared tapenade and just added fresh Meyer lemon zest and some Meyer lemon segments, it’s a simple shortcut that yields delicious results! This cauliflower steak is great as is, or add a little cooked farro and some arugula for a hearty salad. What ever you decide to make with this foundation recipe, don’t be afraid to really roast it!
