Harissa Spiced Cauliflower Steaks with Herby Green Lentils

5 from 3 votes

Harissa Spiced Cauliflower Steaks with Herby Green Lentils

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.

Course Main Course

Cuisine British, Fusion, North African

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Servings people

Calories 359kcal

Author Eb Gargano

Ingredients

Harissa Spiced Cauliflower Steaks

2 tablespoons harissa paste (I use Al’Fez)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
4 cauliflower ‘steaks’ cut from the centre of 2 medium cauliflowers (see note 1)

Herby Green Lentils

250 g dried green lentils
3 tablespoons mint chopped finely
3 tablespoons flat leaf parsley chopped finely
Juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

To serve

100 g pomegranate seeds

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Harissa Spiced Cauliflower Steaks

Preheat your oven to 220C / 200C fan / gas mark 7 / 425F.
Mix together the harissa, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Place the cauliflower steaks in the bowl one at a time, coat thoroughly in the marinade and place on a baking tray.
Roast the cauliflower steaks in your preheated oven for 20 minutes (or until cooked all the way through and lightly charred), turning once during cooking.

Herby Green Lentils

While the cauliflower steaks are roasting, place the green lentils in a saucepan and pour over plenty of boiling water. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 20 minutes or until cooked to how you like them (see note 2).
When the lentils are cooked, drain and place back in the pan. Add the mint, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and stir to combine.

To serve

Serve a generous mound of herby lentils in the centre of the plate. Flatten slightly and then top with a cauliflower steak. Scatter over the pomegranate seeds and serve.

Notes

(1) 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’.

(2) I find the packet instructions invariably tell you to cook green lentils for so long they turn to mush. I find 20 minutes cooking is plenty to achieve a soft but not mushy texture. However, if you prefer your lentils a little softer, it would probably make sense to start cooking the lentils BEFORE cooking the cauliflower steaks, so the timings work out better.

Not suitable for freezing

Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Nutrition