So this recipe sounds interesting, doesn’t it? If you didn’t already guess, this is a twist on a classic Italian dish, chicken parm. Little known fact, chicken parmesan was my favorite, FAVORITE food in my pre-vegetarian days. So of course when I stumbled upon a recipe for cauliflower parmesan I had to give it a go.
This dinner falls under my “cooking with Ky” series (lolll). Kylie is a great friend of mind who is a health-conscious, but very open-minded omnivore. So if vegan, gluten-free meals are approved by her, I feel wildly triumphant. This was a more complicated meal, but it was well-worth our time. We mostly followed this recipe from Fork and Beans. Having two people definitely helps so you can divvy up tasks.
Step 1. Make your favorite marinara, let it simmer for 30 minutes while you prepare the cauliflower
Step 2. Slice the cauliflower in a way that you’ve probably never ever eaten cauliflower before: in large, flat chunks. Try not to let the slices break apart!
Step 3. Make a breading station for the cauliflower. This involves “egg” and store-bought gluten-free breadcrumbs. For anyone who was wondering, vegans oftentimes substitute 1 TB ground flax + 2 TBs warm water for an egg in baking recipes. Weird right??
Step 4. Dip cauliflower slices in “egg” then the breading
Step 5. Put your breaded cauliflower in a dish with the finished marinara at the bottom, top with some vegan cheese, and bake for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cook your quinoa pasta.
Step 6. Put the finished cauliflower on your cooked pasta, top with marinara, and POOF you have magic.
I just over-simplified that to the MAX but I made it sound pretty easy right?? You can make this with the marinara Cara suggests in the recipe, or make your favorite homemade sauce, which is what I did.
If anyone has any other creative takes on chicken parm, please let me know, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
xx
happy eats 