Recipe For Seared Cauliflower With Anchovy, Lemon, And Capers

It seemed for a while that every fine-dining restaurant in New York City was offering a thick “cauliflower steak” as a playful, rather high-priced vegetarian main course. Crisp, caramelized, and juicy, it is awfully good. But it’s more practical for a home cook to achieve the same delightful effect with smaller slices. MAKES 4 SERVINGS

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup olive oil, plus 4 tablespoons more
• 3 or 4 chopped anchovy fillets
• 2 or more minced garlic cloves
• Lemon zest, plus lemon wedges
• Chopped capers
• 1 cauliflower head
• Pinch of crushed red pepper
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Roughly chopped at-leaf parsley, for garnish

Directions

1. To make the sauce, heat 1/2 cup olive oil in a small saucepan. Add 3 or 4 chopped anchovy fillets and cook slowly over medium heat until the anchovies have dissolved. Add a pinch of crushed red pepper and 2 or more minced garlic cloves.

2. Turn off the heat and stir in some grated lemon zest and chopped capers. Set aside. (The sauce is also good with boiled or steamed cauliflower florets.)

3. Halve and core a cauliflower and cut into small 1/2-inch thick slices. (Save the little crumbly bits for another time.)

4. Put two large cast-iron skillets over medium- high heat. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil per pan.

5. Slip the slices carefully in the pans in a single layer. Season with salt and pepper and let them brown on the first side, 4 to 5 minutes.

6. Carefully turn them over and cook for about 2 minutes more, until tender but still firm. Don’t crowd the slices or they won’t crisp well.

7. Transfer to a platter, spoon the anchovy sauce over the cauliflower, and sprinkle with roughly chopped at-leaf parsley. Serve with lemon wedges.

Excerpted from David Tanis Market Cooking by David Tanis (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2017. Photographs by Evan Sung.