Starting #WFPB in April. Episode 8

Breakfast:

2 mandarins
the usual steel cut oats, with Strawberries, and some almond milk for a change.
Kale and sweet potato salad.

Lunch:

Huge salad with red leaf lettuce, beets, peppers, red onion, capers, olives, quinoa and 1/2/3 dressing

A bowl of umpteen bean soup.

Dinner:

Cucumber Salad: Left over from the other day. Added in some Moringa powder jst for fun, because I happened to have it and want to use it up.

Roast Cauliflower

In this case, I am using essentially the original recipe as I found it online:

View on karissasvegankitchen.com

The oven dish, cauliflower quartered

Ingredients

The Gravy 

3 cups vegetable stock
1 tbsp maple syrup optional, for sweetness
3 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce*, or apple cider vinegar
2-4 minced garlic cloves or 2 tsp garlic powder
2-3 cut-up onions or 2 tsp onion powder
3-5 sprigs of parsley, cut up the leaves fine, or 1 tsp dried parsley
3/4 tsp thyme or fresh
3/4 tsp sage
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp pepper
5 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup water

The Roast 

1 whole cauliflower leaves and outer stalk trimmed off
4 large carrots chopped
4 medium potatoes peeled and cubed
1/2 cup vegetable stock

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Preparation Instructions

My plate, over black/brown rice pilaf

The Gravy

In a medium-sized pot, whisk together all of the gravy ingredients EXCEPT for the cornstarch & water.
Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer on medium-low heat for 5 minutes. (This will allow all the flavors to marry.) Remove from the heat.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and water to make a cornstarch slurry.

Once the pot is no longer simmering, slowly whisk the cornstarch slurry into the gravy a little at a time. Going slow will ensure that no clumps form.
The gravy will begin to thicken as soon as the cornstarch is whisked in. Put the pot back on the stove and return to a simmer for an additional 3 minutes.

The Roast

Pre-heat oven to 450F degrees.
Arrange the potatoes and carrots in a roasting dish with the cauliflower in the center. Be careful not to overcrowd the dish.

Place the cauliflower upside-down and pour 1/3 cup of the gravy into it. Give it a good shake to distribute the gravy.
Place cauliflower right-side up and brush more gravy on the top to cover it (about 1/3 to 1/2 cup)

Add 1/2 cup of vegetable stock to the bottom of the dish (this will help steam the veggies.)

Pour about a 1/3 cup of gravy over top of the potatoes and carrots.
Cover the dish tightly with a lid or aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes, brushing the cauliflower with more gravy halfway through.

Uncover the cauliflower roast and brush more gravy on. Bake for another 30 minutes (uncovered), brushing with more gravy halfway again (that's the final 1/3rd of the gravy.
Remove from the oven and serve while hot.

I served it over a bed of my pilar of black and short grain brown rice. 

*Many brands of Worcestershire sauce contain anchovies. Vegan Worcestershire sauce does exist (Annie's brand and Kroger brand are vegan for sure), but if you can't find it, you can omit it and substitute apple cider vinegar for a little zing.
If you dig onions, you can slice up an onion and add it right in with the carrots and potatoes. Mushrooms would be great, too! Making sure your pan is not too crowded will help everything cook through properly. If you find the potatoes are drying out, add a little more veggie stock to the pan.

Apart from taking a longish time, this dish is actually not a lot of work.