I have to say I was a little sceptical about the idea of roast cauliflower cooked directly on the plate setter. But food friends came across it once on their travels and my friend Nic Williams has always said this is one of the best vegetable dishes he has tasted from the Big Green Egg. I know he has demonstrated this many times and has adapted the original idea with a really fabulous dressing. This particular recipe is taken
from Nic’s site but has a small twist in serving with toasted flax seeds rather than sesame seeds. This was one of those lovely discoveries brought about by necessity when we ran out of sesame seeds – but there is no going back now!!
I was put off the idea of cutting ‘cauliflower steaks’ as there are lots of little bits that come off the cauliflower that you can’t roast ……….. but these make a great cauliflower soup (more later) so now nothing is wasted. The secret is to cut the slices around 6-8 mm thick through the centre of the cauliflower and select the nicest pieces. I have found that cutting through individual florets produces some lovely smaller slices that are easier to manoeuvre in cooking. The EGG is set up with the platesetter in the feet down position at around 200C. 
The slices of cauliflower are lightly oiled and sprinkled with Malden salt and then placed directly on the platesetter and left for around 7 minutes. They were then carefully turned and the other side roasted for a further 7 minutes.
Just before cooking the cauliflower you can whip up a fabulous dressing. Finely slice the garlic and add all the ingredients except the Flax seeds (soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, truffle infused olive oil, sesame oil, sugar and ground black pepper). Meanwhile toast the flax seeds for 3 minutes and allow to cool. (These can be served separately from the dressing or more simply mixed with the dressing just before serving).
After around 15 minutes remove the garlic slices and you are ready to go!
(If you have some powdered garlic you can simplify this further by sprinkling a tiny dust of garlic powder rather than adding and then removing the sliced garlic.)
Once the cauliflower is nicely toasted serve straight away. Spoon the dressing over the top and sprinkle over the toasted flax seeds if not already added to the dressing.
This is a great dish in its own right as the centre piece of a great vegetarian main course, it really is a really satisfying substitute for a piece of steak. Equally, it makes a great accompaniment to sit along side different meats as you can see in these pictures.
Roasted cauliflower with truffle and toasted flax dressing
Roasted cauliflower served with a tangy truffle oil, balsamic and soy dressing with toasted flax seeds
Ingredients
- Whole cauliflower
- Olive oil
- Maldon Salt
- For the dressing:
- Clove of garlic
- 1.5 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp truffle infused olive oil
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp sugar
- Ground black pepper
- Flax seeds
Directions
- Step 1 Add the flax seeds to the frying pan and toast for 2-3 mins
- Step 2 Slice the garlic clove and mix all the other ingredients of the dressing together. After 15 minutes remove the garlic slices from the dressing.
- Step 3 Heat the EGG to 200°C with the plate setter feet down position.
- Step 4 Slice your cauliflower into 6-8mm slices from the top into the stem. Drizzle the cauliflower with oil and sprinkle on a little Maldon salt. Put the cauliflower directly on the hot plate setter for about 7 minutes each side, until it starts to brown. Once the cauliflower is cooked serve straight away. Drizzle with the dressing and sprinkle over the toasted flax seeds
