Vegan Crusted Cauliflower Over Squash Noodles

A Note from Chef Camille 

Creating this vegan entree has been so much fun to develop and has been a turning point for many healthy eaters out there. This flavorful dish is an unbelievable, protein packed substitute for vegans that will leave your meat eating friends fully satiated! Seasonal ingredients are key and will make your dish come to life. The trick used to crust the cauliflower with a ‘flax egg’ can be applied to assorted vegetables, use your acquired knowledge with this and get creative! Always remember to do your best to buy local, organic, well sourced produce! The dish is served with heirloom tomato pomodoro with parsley pesto. 

 Tools Needed 

• 3 medium sized mixing bowls
• Sheet pan
• Medium sauce pot
• Spiralizer
• High speed blender
• Food processor or nut grinder (unless you buy crushed nuts!)

Ingredients 

Nut Crusted Cauliflower:

• 1 head cauliflower, cleaned, quartered
• 1 cup almonds, crushed
• 1 cup cashews, crushed
• ½ cup pistachios, crushed
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• (Or your favorite spice mixture!)
• 2 tablespoons ground flax (also works with ground chia seeds)
• ⅓ cup water

Heirloom Tomato Pomodoro:

• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium shallot, minced
• 1 leek, cleaned, minced
• ½ cup white wine
• 5# heirloom tomatoes/ 1 gallon medium dice
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, minced
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh chive, snipped 
• 2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil 

Squash Noodles:

• 3# summer squash, spiralized 
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• Extra virgin olive oil 

 Parsley Pesto:

• 2 cups parsley leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• ½ -1 cup extra virgin olive oil as needed
• Sea salt to taste

 Instructions

1. Generously oil and salt your cauliflower quarters, roast @400• for about 30 minutes until they pierce with a fork and are lightly colored. Chill

2. Mix ground flax with water in a small bowl, set aside to ‘bloom’ for at least 30 minutes.

3. Mix nuts with spice mixture in a separate bowl. Set aside.

4. In a medium sauce pot, on medium heat, heat oil until shimmering, add garlic, shallot, leek and sweat until translucent. Deglaze with white wine, let reduce by half. Lower heat and add diced heirloom tomatoes and cook down until nicely softened, about 30 minutes. Stir in minced herbs to finish sauce. Let cool.

5. Take our spiralizer, trim ends off squash and spiralize into noodles. Set aside.

6. Take out roasted cauliflower quarters, bowl with flax egg, and bowl with spiced nut mixture. Working in batches, thoroughly coat each cauliflower with flax egg then roll in nut mixture, set on baking tray. Heat through in a 350• oven for 10-15 minutes.

7. Blend all ingredients for parsley pesto in a high speed blender, incorporating oil slowly to create a smooth consistency, adding salt to taste at the end.

8. In a sauté pan, on medium heat, add olive oil and sliced garlic then squash noodles and sauté until just broken down. 

To plate: create art on your plate with the parsley pesto using the back of a spoon. Take a two oz ladle or large spoon and place the tomate pomedoro then twist sautéed noodles into a haystack in the middle. Place a quarter of cauliflower into squash noodles. Bon Appetit!

Recipe by Chef Camille Gebert of Cal-a-Vie Health Spa
Share with us by using hashtag #homewithcaravan 🍽