Cauliflower Thanksgiving Roast with Mushroom Gravy

When I first saw the concept of a whole cauliflower roast, I knew I hit the jackpot for the perfect Thanksgiving centerpiece. It looks impressive, tastes incredible, and it's a beautiful way to present vegetables as the centerpiece of a meal. I've toyed around with a couple different variations of roasting a whole cauliflower, and ultimately settled on this recipe from Hot for Food, one of my favorite cooking channels on YouTube. 

I followed their recipe almost exactly, with a few slight variations, but most importantly, I added MUSHROOMS into the gravy. I had oyster mushrooms in the fridge, which are my absolute favorite. The mushroom gravy made this dish feel even more "centerpiece-y" with the addition of the meatiness of the shrooms. YUM.

​The directions for this dish seem long, but the whole process is actually pretty darn simple!

• Make gravy 
• Trim cauliflower and prep vegetables
• Cover cauliflower with gravy and roast 
• Add vegetables, roast again
• More gravy
• Serve and enjoy!
• Impress everyone, including yourself

​Cauliflower Thanksgiving Roast & Mushroom Gravy

Ingredients
1 large cauliflower
4 cups large chopped vegetables of choice (I used 2 colors of potato, carrot, onion, celery)*
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Optional: fresh or dried herbs like rosemary & thyme

Mushroom Gravy Ingredients:
​1/4 cup Earthbalance/butter 
​4 garlic cloves, minced
2 shallots, small diced
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp celery salt (dried or fresh)
1 tsp rosemary (dried or fresh)
1 tsp thyme
1 cup tamari or liquid aminos
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
2/3 cup tahini
2 TBSP vegan worcestershire or 1 TBSP molasses
1/4 cup vegetable stock
1 TBSP water
​1 TBSP arrowroot powder or cornstarch
1 cup mushrooms, sliced (I used oyster, but any variety will work)
*I would consider doubling or tripling this recipe if you plan to serve it alongside other dishes, or to freeze for later use!

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 F. 
To prepare the cauliflower, remove the leaves and carefully remove the "core" of the stalk, while keeping the florets together. Place the cauliflower flat in the roasting pan (I used a cast iron skillet). 
Prepare the gravy by heating the vegan butter in a sauce pan over medium. Once the butter has melted, add the garlic and shallots, and cook about 2 minutes or until softened. Add nutmeg, celery salt, rosemary, and thyme, and continue to stir for one minutes. 
In a separate bowl, combine the arrowroot powder or cornstarch with water to make a slurry, then add to the sauce pan along with the tamari, maple, tahini, and worcestershire. Whisk these ingredients together and continue whisking occasionally while it sits on a low simmer for about 10 minutes. The consistency should be thick but pourable so that it can coat the cauliflower without dripping too much. If it needs to be thinned out, add small amounts of vegetable stock.
To coat the cauliflower, start by pouring spoonfuls of gravy into the cauliflower upside-down, making sure that it gets into the florets and crevices. Place it right side up again, and use a brush to coat the entire cauliflower with the gravy, making sure to save at least half of the gravy for later. 
Roast the cauliflower alone for about 15-20 minutes. Before placing back in the oven, season the vegetables with salt, pepper, and rosemary/thyme, and place around the outside of it, tossing them around a bit in the remaining gravy. Spoon any leftover gravy or liquid back over the cauliflower. If you have a baster, this will be 10x easier (remind me to get one!). Place back in the oven for another 40-45 minutes, checking occasionally to keep basting the additional liquid over the roast and tossing the vegetables.
When it is almost time to serve, heat up the remaining gravy on low heat and add the mushrooms. Once the mushrooms are soft, whisk in more arrowroot/cornstarch slurry to thicken again. You may need to continue adding vegetable stock to get the consistency just right. 
Garnish the roast with fresh herbs, and serve the gravy alongside so it can be poured over each serving. 

Recipe Notes:

• If you are serving the gravy with other dishes (like mashed potatoes), I would double or even triple the gravy recipe, or make 2 separate versions: one with mushrooms (for serving) and one without (for the roast).
• Feel free to mix up the vegetables you use in the pan. I used purple potato, white potato, carrot, onion, and celery. Cubed butternut squash would also be great, brussels sprouts, turnip or other root vegetables would all work. Just be mindful of their individual cooking times and cut to size accordingly so that they all cook evenly together.

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If you make this, I'd love to see how it turned out! Tag me on Instagram @morganaveryco, or send me an email morganaveryco@gmail.com!
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