Pesto Cauliflower Steaks with Smashed Sweet Potatoes

This recipe is fantastically unusual and brilliantly colourful, and everything just tastes so good. Smashed sweet potatoes, with cauliflower steaks, balsamic chickpeas and bacon cubes, with fresh pesto - it sounds wild, but it's SO GOOD!!

Prep:

10

minutes

Cook:

30

minutes

TOtal:

40

minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 medium cauliflowers, cut into steak slices
  • 1 tsp garlic granules
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp dried rosemary
  • 60g fresh basil
  • 150ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 40g pine nuts
  • 2 handfuls fresh spinach
  • 75 parmesan cheese, grated
  • 3 tbsp greek yoghurt
  • 150g vegetarian bacon rashers, chopped
  • 200g chickpeas
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 3 sweet potatoes
  • 3-6 tbsp lime juice
  • 100g feta cheese
  • Salt
  • Pepper

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 200°C / Fan 180°C / 400°F / Gas Mark 6.
  2. Prick the sweet potatoes with a fork all over and cook each one in the microwave for four minutes. Then place the potatoes on a baking tray with some drizzled oil and sprinkled salt and pepper and bake for roughly 20-25 minutes, until the potatoes are soft inside and the skin has turned slightly crispy and golden.
  3. On another baking tray, lay out the cauliflower steaks and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle over the garlic granules, dried oregano and dried rosemary and season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven to cook for 15-20 minutes, until the cauliflower has browned slightly and is soft to the touch.
  4. In a small processor, blend together the basil leaves and stalks (you might just want to cut off the ends slightly), 150ml olive oil, garlic cloves, pine nuts, fresh spinach, grated parmesan and the greek yoghurt until everything is combined the the sauce is smooth. Season with salt and pepper if you would like to.
  5. In a large saucepan or a wok, heat a tablespoon of oil and cook the bacon rashers and chickpeas for 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle over the cumin seeds and drizzle over the balsamic vinegar and give everything a good mix.
  6. On a plate, use the end of a rolling pin to (gently) smash the sweet potato. Trickle over a tablespoon or two of the lime juice and lay one of the cauliflower steaks on top (or two if you're particularly hungry!). Add a couple of spoonfuls of the bacon and chickpea mixture, and finish with the fresh pesto. Crumble over the feta cheese and you're good to go.