Harissa Spiced Cauliflower Steaks with Herby Green Lentils (Vegan)

Naturally low calorie and vegan, these Harissa Spiced Cauliflower Steaks with Herby Green Lentils are packed full of flavour and ready in under 30 minutes.

Harissa Spiced Cauliflower Steaks with Herby Green Lentils

Chunky Cauliflower Steaks, coated in a delicious harissa marinade and roasted until lightly charred, sat atop a generous mound of green lentils flavoured with mint, parsley lemon juice and olive oil, and finished with an attractive scattering of pomegranate seeds… it’s the sort of food you expect to find in a fancy restaurant, but it’s actually really quick and easy to make this dish at home!

How to make Harissa Spiced Cauliflower Steaks

The first step is to make the cauliflower steaks. To achieve the right size, you need to slice a medium sized cauliflower lengthways into thick slices and then use the two middle slices as your ‘steaks’. So if you are cooking this recipe for 4, you will need 2 cauliflowers to get 4 good sized ‘steaks’.

But don’t throw the rest of the cauliflower away! You can either chop it into florets, roast them alongside the steaks and serve as a side dish OR save the rest for another day.

To make the marinade, combine harissa with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Then turn each cauliflower steak in the marinade to coat thoroughly.

Finally, roast the cauliflower steaks in a hot oven for 20 minutes turning once and ta da! Perfectly cooked Harissa Spiced Cauliflower Steaks.

How to make Herby Green Lentils

To make the herby green lentils, simply boil the lentils for about 20 minutes, while the cauliflower steaks are roasting in the oven. Drain and return to the pan.

Drizzle over some extra virgin olive oil, add a squeeze of lemon, some salt and pepper and a generous handful each of mint and parsley, then serve topped with the Harissa Spiced Cauliflower Steaks.

Finally scatter over some pomegranate seeds for a beautiful jewelled finish.

Adaptations to try…

You could use thick slices of aubergine or butternut squash instead of cauliflower. You could also use halloumi if you don’t need this to be vegan.

You could add a little cumin to the lentils – simply dry fry a teaspoon or two of cumin seeds for a minute or two, then grind in a pestle and mortar before adding to the drained lentils.

You could swap the mint and/or parsley for coriander.

You could make this more substantial by adding a tin of chickpeas to the lentils (add to the lentils 5 minutes before the end of cooking).

You could swap the pomegranate seeds for lightly toasted pine nuts and/or raisins and/or diced dried apricots.

You could swap the green lentils for puy lentils. Or use a bag of pre-prepared lentils.

What to serve with Harissa Spiced Cauliflower Steaks with Herby Green Lentils?

I am quite happy to eat this as a meal on its own, but it would also be delicious with a simple green salad on the side.

If you are feeling the need for carbs, some rice would go well here – I think it would work especially well with brown or wild rice. Alternatively, you could serve this dish with thick slices of crusty white bread or toasted pittas.

You could also serve my Harissa Spiced Cauliflower Steaks with Herby Green Lentils as a side dish. If you do this, I recommend chopping the cauliflower into florets, before coating in the marinade and roasting. Then toss together the lentils, cauliflower and pomegranate seeds,, so it’s more of a side salad than a main dish.

What to drink with Harissa Spiced Cauliflower Steaks with Herby Green Lentils?

My best wine pick here would be a crisp, zesty Sauvignon Blanc from Chile or New Zealand, an Italian Pinot Grigio, or a dry fruity rosé from somewhere like Spain or the South of France.

Red wine wouldn’t be my first choice here, but I think you could get away with a Beaujolais or a light Pinot Noir.

Can you reheat Harissa Spiced Cauliflower Steaks with Herby Green Lentils?

I wouldn’t recommend it, as it is likely to make the lentils and cauliflower go a bit mushy – however you can if you want to!

A much better idea to my mind is to keep any leftovers in the fridge and eat them cold the next day. It would make a delicious packed lunch 😀

In fact, as with many such recipes, the flavours are even better the next day, so it is well worth making extra!

Can you freeze Harissa Spiced Cauliflower Steaks with Herby Green Lentils?

I really wouldn’t recommend you freeze my Harissa Spiced Cauliflower Steaks with Herby Green Lentils – it does horrible things to the textures – especially to the cauliflower. This is one of the few recipes on my site that I really don’t recommend freezing!

If you like Harissa Spiced Cauliflower Steaks with Herby Green Lentils…

…then you might like

• Feta, Roasted Pepper and Harissa Toasted Flatbreads
• Warm Butternut Squash, Harissa and Halloumi Salad
• Moroccan Spiced Roasted Vegetable Traybake
• Harissa, Sweet Potato and Chickpea Tagine with Lemon and Coriander Couscous (Vegan)
  
• Easy Oven Baked Falafel (Vegan)

Moroccan Spiced Roasted Vegetable Traybake

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