Serve as a vegetarian main dish, or a plate to share.
Ingredients
—Cauliflower
1 large cauliflower
1 large (size 7) free-range egg
½ cup panko crumbs, blitzed briefly to make them finer (don’t turn them to dust!)
Salt
½ cup grated parmesan or grano padano cheese, plus extra for serving
1 tsp dried oregano
Olive oil
Butter
Flaky sea salt
Quick Olive Hummus
1 cup ready-made hummus
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp capers, mopped and chopped
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
12 small black olives, pitted and chopped
Method
—
1 Trim cauliflower, then cut into thick slices cutting through the stem. You should get 3 per cauliflower. Use the loose cauliflower florets for roasting, in cheese sauce, or in soup (they will stay fresh for some days refrigerated in a plastic bag).
2 Beat egg on a flat plate with ¼ teaspoon of salt. Mix crumbs, parmesan, ½ teaspoon of salt and oregano. Coat cauliflower steaks one at a time with egg, using a brush to reach inside florets. Lift each piece of cauliflower out of beaten egg and let excess egg drip off. Coat with the crumb mixture. Put cauliflower steaks on a cake rack as they are done
3 Heat ½ cup olive oil in a large frying pan large over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, add 2 tablespoons of butter. Once butter is sizzling, carefully put in cauliflower steaks without disturbing crumb coating. Fry until golden, lowering the heat to medium. Cook the cauliflower for about 5 minutes each side.
4 Transfer to cake rack as they are done, let them drain briefly, and sprinkle with sea salt. Dish onto warmed plates, garnish with sliced red chilli and serve with lemon wedges. Serve caper salsa or olive hummus alongside.
Quick Olive Hummus
Mix everything together, reserving a pinch or two of chopped olives for the top.
Photography Aaron McLean http://www.aaronmclean.com
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