Filete de Coliflor con Yuzu Kosho

Cauliflower Steaks with Yuzu Kosho–Ají Sauce

My love for yuzu kosho is straight out of my London days. I was lucky enough to work with some of the city’s best sushi chefs and learned to appreciate more Japanese ingredients than those I had tasted growing up. I love the intense flavors of the spicy-salty paste, which is made from chile peppers and the peel of citrusy yuzu fruit. It was just asking to be made into an Italian-style “pesto” basting sauce with local ingredients like ají amarillo paste, Chinese influences like lemongrass, and cilantro and limes, which the Spanish brought to Peru—almost every corner of the world there.

If the cauliflower falls apart into florets as you slice the heads into steaks, no importa. Toss the florets into a grill basket and grill them anyway, or use them in a salad or tortilla de arroz (page 221). Make mini steaks out of the colorful baby cauliflower you can sometimes find at farmers’ markets, or cut them in half into chubby little bites. Before grilling, blanch the cauliflower steaks until they are barely tender-crisp, then finish them on the grill to give them a nice smoky, caramelized char.

1 Cut off the root end of the cauliflower, stand the cauliflower head upright, and cut it lengthwise into meaty slices about 1 inch thick. Fill a large pot halfway with water, bring it to a boil, then add the cauliflower steaks and salt. Reduce the heat and simmer the cauliflower until just tender-crisp when pierced with a knife. The cooking time varies depending on the size of the steaks, but start checking after 2 to 3 minutes. Drain the cauliflower and let cool completely under cold running water or dunk in an ice bath. Use the cauliflower immediately, or cover and refrigerate overnight. If the cauliflower steaks are cold, let them come to room temperature before grilling.

2 Prepare a grill or hibachi for direct, high-heat cooking. Blot off any water on the cauliflower, then brush one side with about half the pesto. Halve the limes, then cut each half into quarters.

3 Grill the cauliflower steaks in batches, pesto side down, until charred on the bottom, about 2 minutes if your grill is really hot. Lightly brush the tops with more pesto, flip, and grill the opposite side of the cauliflower until charred, a few minutes more. Break off a small piece of one steak to taste (or if you grilled any small florets that fell apart, pop one of those in your mouth) and brush the cauliflower again with pesto, if you’d like more spiciness. Transfer the cauliflower to a plate, squeeze the juice of about half a lime all over the top, and serve the remaining quartered limes alongside the cauliflower.

Peruvian Pesto (Yuzu Kosho–Ají Marinade)

Makes about ½ cup

Ají amarillo and yuzu kosho, the Japanese citrusy pepper paste, give this all-purpose “pesto” two very different pepper flavors. The ají amarillo is on the sweeter side of hot, while the yuzu kosho is more of a salty heat because of the other ingredients in the pepper paste. The pesto has a bold flavor, so you don’t need a lot, but it really intensifies the grilled flavor of mild seafood like shrimp and white-fleshed fish, or vegetables like cauliflower. At my restaurants, I use frozen unsalted yuzu juice, but I use lime juice when I’m on the road traveling to events, as I do here. Both are very good.

Combine all of the ingredients in a small jar or food storage container, seal, and shake well to combine. Refrigerate the pesto for up to 1 week.