Romesco Cauliflower Sandwiches

Toasted bread slathered with nutty romesco sauce and layered with roasted cauliflower, fresh veggies & herbs makes the perfect vegetarian sandwich.

I have to admit something to you. This food blog job isn’t always as glamorous as you may think it is. It’s a job, like any job, with fun parts (cooking! eating!) and less fun parts that involve sitting behind a computer monitor, editing, writing, emailing, etc. It’s not a sad life by any stretch, but it’s also not glitz and glory – it’s work. Except… when some of the opportunities that come my way are totally out of left field – and I find myself going to California for a day touring an absolutely beautiful almond orchard instead of touring Adobe Lightroom.

A few weeks ago I went to visit Chamisal Creek, a family farm that’s part of the co-op of farmers that make up Blue Diamond Almond Growers. It was a (surprisingly!) sunny day and the orchard was in full bloom. We ate Almond Breeze blueberry muffins, learned about the process of growing almonds, and enjoyed a beautiful farm-to-table lunch.

The romesco sandwiches they served at the lunch inspired this recipe. My version here is made vegetarian by using roasted cauliflower as the “meat” of the sandwich – to me cauliflower and romesco go together like peanut butter almond butter and jelly.

For me, it was really impactful to see that these orchards are pretty small family farms. The almonds that go into Almond Breeze aren’t grown at a giant mega-farm or anything like that, they’re grown exclusively by independent farms in the Blue Diamond Growers co-op. This farm, owned by Michael Dougherty and his family, is a 700-acre farm that grows 12 varieties of almonds and also produces wine, olive oil, and peaches. By being a part of the co-op, the farmers get much-needed support, and in turn Blue Diamond gets high quality almonds. Almond Breeze is the only almond milk brand that actually has the orchards within its own organization.

Here are some pics from our dreamy visit!:

Driving to the orchard, I was surprised how much the almond trees looked like cherry blossoms:

The tour ended with this sweet vegan pear tart, which is on my list to make soon!

Romesco Cauliflower Sandwiches

• 1 small head of cauliflower*
• 8 slices of ciabatta or sourdough bread
• Handful of salad greens
• Several pieces of thinly sliced red onion
• 2 tomatoes, sliced and seasoned with sea salt and pepper
• ¼ cup fresh parsley
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 1 tomato, halved and cored
• 1 roasted red pepper, fresh or from a jar
• ¼ cup toasted almonds
• 2 garlic cloves
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons Almond Breeze Almondmilk Original Unsweetened
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7rbvVnpinnJyaurC60meaqKVfp7yusdKcpmabkaq5qrLLqK6eql2orq%2Bw1qKaoZ2jZA%3D%3D