Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with flavorful Romesco Sauce over a bed of simply seasoned lentils. A quick and easy sheet pan dinner – vegan, plant-powered, and full of flavor! With a Video. Love cauliflower? Check out our 33+ Best Cauliflower Recipes!
Oh, mirror in the sky what is love? Can the child within my heart rise above? Can I sail through the changin’ ocean tides? Can I handle the seasons of my life? ~Stevie Nicks
We loved this simple vegan dinner the other night and thought I’d share. Roasted Cauliflower nestles in flavorful Romesco Sauce over a bed of simmered lentils. It’s a nutritious meal, full of flavor and goodness, that comes together quickly and easily. Truly the place where healthy meets delicious!
What I love about this recipe is how the Romesco Sauce ingredients roast simultaneously as the cauliflower. While baking away in the oven, the lentils are simmering on the stovetop, giving you a little hands-off time before dinner. Then it’s just a matter of whizzing up the flavorful sauce and assembling. A tasty, easy, vegan sheet pan dinner.
Fall has arrived and I’ve been enjoying these brisk temperatures. Something about it makes me feel very alive. When you see the falling of the leaves, the wilting of the flowers, the dying off of nature, it’s a good reminder of how precious this life is. I know it will end, and in a way, I suppose it must, for it to mean something. And then the questions begin to surface, like, have I loved deeply enough? Or dug down far enough within myself to fully experience this life, or shed enough of what is not real? Big sigh…
Cauliflower Romesco Video
What you’ll need:
- Lentils: FYI- small lentils cook fastest! I love these black caviar lentils– done in 20 minutes!
- Cauliflower- A whole large head cauliflower
- red bell peppers ( or sub roasted red peppers)
- red onion
- garlic cloves
- almonds (Marcona almonds are nice, or toasted hazelnuts)
- extra virgin olive oil
- red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
- tomato paste (or sub-sundried tomatoes)
- salt , black pepper and spices: smoked paprika, cumin, coriander, cayenne
- fresh parsley for garnish
How to make Roasted Cauliflower with Romesco Sauce (instructions)
Step one
Preheat the oven and start the lentils cooking on the stovetop. These are the tiny Black caviar lentils that cook in 20 minutes- a lifesaver on busy nights!
Step two
Slice the Cauliflower into ½-¾ inch slices, then trim the leaves, leaving the stem intact. Place on a parchment paper -lined baking sheet that has been sprayed with spray olive oil. If you prefer, you can also cut into florets.
Step three
Make the quick marinade and brush it over the cauliflower and bell pepper, onion and garlic.
Step four
Roast until the stems of the cauliflower are fork-tender.
Step five
When the peppers are collapsing, make the romesco sauce.
Place the pepper, onion, garlic, almonds, spices, olive oil, vinegar, tomato paste and salt in the food processor and pulse.
Blend until well combined but not too smooth.
Optional: Place it in a pan or skillet over low heat to keep warm, and further deepen the flavor.
Step six
Season the lentils with a little olive oil , and slat and pepper to taste.
Step seven
Assemble! Divide lentils among bowls, divide romesco sauce, then top with the roasted cauliflower. Sprinkle with some fresh herbs and you are good to go.
Storage & Serving Suggestions
Leftovers will keep up to 4 days in a sealed container in the refrigerator. The sauce and lentils can be frozen. It is a hearty meal, serve on its own or with something light like a leafy green salad!
Hope you are having a beautiful fall week.
love,
More recipes you may enjoy
- Chili Crisp Cauliflower
- Simple Romesco Sauce Recipe
- Our 25 BEST Lentil Recipes! (Plus how to cook Lentils)
- Zaatar Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with Green Tahini Sauce
- Lentil Bolognese
- Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Romesco Sauce
Cauliflower Steaks with Romesco Sauce and Lentils
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 35
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 3-4 1x
- Category: vegan, main
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: Spanish
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with Romesco Sauce over a bed of simply seasoned lentils. A quick and easy sheet pan dinner – vegan, plant-powered, and full of flavor!
Ingredients
Lentils:
- 1 cup dry lentils (beluga, black caviar lentils, french green lentils, etc- small lentils cook the fastest!)
- 6 cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- optional additions: garlic cloves, bay leaves, sliced onion, dried herbs ( thyme, oregano)
garnish: drizzle of olive oil
Sheet Pan:
- 1 extra-large cauliflower
- 1 large bell pepper, halved or quartered
- 1/2 red onion, sliced
- 4–6 fat garlic cloves
Marinade:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
Romesco Sauce
- 1/2 cup almonds (Marcona are nice, or sub toasted hazelnuts, walnuts, pinenuts, etc)
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper each, more to taste
- 1/4– 1/2 teaspoon cayenne or chili flakes- add to taste.
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2–4 tablespoons water (to desired consistency)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 F
If making lentils, place water, lentils and salt in a medium pot, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer gently until tender. See notes for additional seasonings. Drain, drizzle with olive oil.
Sheet Pan:
Spray an extra-large, parchment-lined sheet pan with spray olive oil. ( You may need two if using small pans)
Cut a whole cauliflower into ½-¾ inch slices or “steaks”, and then trim the leaves, leaving the stems. (TIP: leaving the leaves on until after slicing, helps them stay together better while you slice). Place these on the sheet pan.
Slice the onion into 1/2 inch thick rings and quarter the bell pepper removing seeds and place on the sheet pan, along with the whole garlic cloves.
In a small bowl mix the marinade ingredients together, then brush liberally over the cauliflower, getting the edges too. Brush any remaining over the onion, garlic and bell pepper.
Bake in the oven until the cauliflower steaks are fork-tender and peppers are tender and collapsing, about 35 minutes, checking on the garlic, halfway through. Remove the garlic when golden, ahead of time if need be.
Romesco Sauce: Place the roasted peppers, onion, garlic, and nuts in a food processor and pulse until chopped. Add the salt and spices, tomato paste, vinegar, olive oil and a little water. Pulse again until well combined, leaving a little texture. Add more water to loosen it and get it saucier- if you like, or keep it thick up to you. Taste and adjust salt and heat level.
Assemble your bowls. Drizzle warm, drained lentils with a little olive oil, and divide among bowls, spoon romesco sauce on the other side of the lentils, top with a couple of cauliflower steaks.
Scatter with fresh parsley. Enjoy!
Notes
Feel free to season the lentils with any additional aromatics: adding garlic clove, dried herbs, bay leaves, to the cooking liquid.
Leftovers can be reheated (baked). If reheating the romesco sauce, stir in another tablespoon of water to prevent it from drying out.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: with ⅔ cup lentils
- Calories: 556
- Sugar: 7.8 g
- Sodium: 641.4 mg
- Fat: 34.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 48.8 g
- Fiber: 12.3 g
- Protein: 19.8 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
This is one of my top five recipes at FAH. I love this Romesco Sauce. I make it often. I usually double or triple the recipe because the sauce freezes well! I do not use the tomato paste. I prefer the roasted red bell pepper flavor. Smoked paprika is a key ingredient. Don’t leave it out. Feta is nice as a salty sprinkle on cauliflower. Sauce is great on grilled chicken (thighs especially), asparagus frittata or just toasted bread!!
Thanks Denise, love all your tweaks and enhancements!
This was delicious!
Good!!!
Another outstanding recipe. The Romesco sauce is so good. It’s worth doubling. Thank you!
Thanks Christine, really appreciate your review!
Another outstanding recipe. Thank you!
This is excellent!
Excellent
Great to hear!
So good! I grabbed the curry by mistake when I was mixing the marinade and ended up with 1 tsp of curry powder on the cauliflower – and it was still a wonderful success. Great depth of flavours. Very satisfying. Will def make this again!
Great! I love those mistakes that turn out well!😉
Another winner! Diverse texture, depth of flavor, and plates beautifully. No recipe changes needed.
Great to hear Wendi!
This recipe is amazing!
Thanks Derek!
Can you clarify how many each ‘size’ serves in your recipes please? For example 1/2 or 1x or 2x.
Thanks
Julia
Sure- so 1 x the recipe serves 3-4 people. 1/2 the recipe would probably serve 2 people, and 2 x the recipe would serve 4-6. The issue is how many “clean” slices of caulifloer can you get out of one cauliflower. The larger the cauliflower, the more slices. If you don’t care if the cauliflower is intact-then eache cauliflower will serve more.
I really enjoyed this recipe
Great to hear!
Fantastic recipe that was a winner with the family. The only suggestion would be to change the sequencing so the veggies are in the oven before the lentils are started.
Thanks Jim and makes perfect sense. 🙂
This was super flavorful and very filling. I will definitely put this in my rotation.
Great to hear Audrey!