Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Marinara and Parmesan

Well, my creativity level in the kitchen has been at an all-time low this week. I had zero motivation to make anything, especially for dinner, and wound up eating lots of taco chicken leftovers from Mother’s Day as well as quite a few snacks for dinner types of evenings.

taco nacho salad trail mix

 

 

 

 

Note: The peas are frozen in this photo but defrosted by the time I ate my salad. Just in case you were wondering. 😉

chicken leftovers

 

Not my proudest week of creativity but I guess we all have our moments. I did however make my best attempt to get out of this rut by using up a cauliflower head that was in the fridge and making it into…

Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Marinara and Parmesan!

The original plan was to use the cauliflower to make homemade cauli pizza crust, but since the lazy vibes were still lingering I thought I would go a more simplistic route.

After washing and drying one head of cauliflower, I cut into it vertically and made four “steaks” out of it. I made sure each piece had a little bit of the cauliflower stem attached to it to keep the steak intact. The two middle steaks held together a lot better than the outer ones because of the stem.

I sprayed each side of the steaks with olive oil, then sprinkled them with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. I threw them on the grill where they cooked for 6-7 minutes on each side.

cauliflower steaks with marinara

Meanwhile, I pulled some leftover marinara out of the freezer from a couple of weeks ago when I made roasted veggies with marinara sauce and heated it up on the stove. The sauce already had cooked Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions, garlic and some added herbs, but I went one step further and added chopped green olives and capers. It was so nice having the sauce pretty much ready to go so that all I needed to do was heat it up and use! The beauty of the freezer.

In case you haven’t noticed, I sort of LOVE red sauce. When we were in Italy for our honeymoon, I ordered marinara sauce on everything. It was so darn good but the heartburn that coincided wasn’t so great. It probably didn’t help I was also drinking red wine and eating hearty meals late in the evening. All things I recommend staying away from if my clients are experiencing heartburn. 🙂 When in Rome though, right? Literally. Ha! I was just thinking, wouldn’t it be fun to do a food recap from Italy? I didn’t take a TON of food photos (that was before my blog days) but I know I have some I could show you. I also kept a food journal so I could remember what I ate! I just may have to do that.  Keep your eyes peeled!

Anyway, back to the cauli. After we pulled them off the grill they looked like this…beautiful.

cauliflower steaks with marinara

I grated fresh parmesan cheese over the top so that it melted into the crevices.  Then I spooned on a large portion of the leftover marinara sauce and dug in.

Icauliflower steaks with marinara cauliflower steaks with marinara

The cauliflower was cooked perfectly and took on a whole new flavor and texture from the grill. The texture was slightly “meaty” especially in the stem, and it was satisfying and fun way to eat cauliflower! Between the cauliflower pizza crust, cauliflower fritters, and cauliflower steaks, I’m finding that this is the veggie that keeps on giving. What will I come up with next?

Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Marinara and Parmesan
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Ingredients
  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • garlic powder
  • parmesan cheese
  • marinara sauce
Instructions
  1. Preheat grill.
  2. Keeping the stem attached, cut cauliflower head vertically into 4 steaks (make sure each of the pieces has some of the stem so that the steaks stay intact).
  3. Lightly spray olive oil on each side of the steaks, and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Place on grill.
  4. Grill on each side for 6-7 minutes.
  5. Remove from grill and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. Top with warmed marinara if you wish and enjoy!

 

Happy Friday!

Do you ever get into food ruts? What do you do to pull yourself out of them?!

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. I totally hear you about being in a food rut – it is especially hard during the week when time is limited! I always meal plan on Sunday when I am feeling the most relaxed and can come up with decent ideas. . . although by the time the week rolls around, sometimes my big meal ideas don’t pan out, but sometimes they are super helpful to have so I don’t have to think about it- I just have to make it!! And I love parmesan cheese on everything!!!
    Katie @ running4cupcakes recently posted…Friday favorites: 5/17/13My Profile

    1. Melanie

      I try to do my meal planning on the weekends too and then stock up on necessary ingredients when we go grocery shopping on Sunday. Usually this helps quite a bit but like you said, sometimes nights are just a lost cause.

    1. Melanie

      I love how the cauliflower takes on a whole new taste after it is roasted or grilled. I thought this would be right up your alley!

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