Baked Buffalo Cauliflower "Wings"

It's cold and rainy. Again. Newton and I have been spending some QT on the couch with the Sons of Anarchy the past couple of days. Season 4 sure is bloody, buddy. Yeah, yeah - I know this sounds suspiciously like my New Year's post, but I spent a week on call in the interim, was phoned at all hours of the night (interns...smh), and had to go in to the hospital no less than four times last weekend to help sick dogs. Feel sorry for me yet? At least I have lunch plans today with another human.

Yesterday, I ate half of a head of cauliflower for lunch and I have the other half ready for dinner tonight. Sounds sketchy, but look what I did!

Baked Buffalo Cauliflower. SO YUMMY. I realize these are not the typical bright orange wing sauce color, but that is dependent on the type of buffalo sauce you use. This is the second time I have I followed the recipe from The Curvy Carrot. Yesterday, I made it with a few modifications based on what I had around the kitchen. While I did not have buttermilk on hand, I curdled a scant cup of half and half with a tablespoon of white vinegar. If you let that sit at room temp for 5-10 minutes, you get a gross looking, chunky cup of fake buttermilk to use. Don't be afraid. I mixed the curdled dairy with 1/3 cup whole wheat flour and 2/3 cup all purpose flour for the batter and found it to be a little thick, so I added about 1/4-1/3 cup of water into the mix. The cauliflower was still a little difficult to batter up, so next time I'd probably add even more water or milk to the flour.

I was all set to make my own buffalo sauce using Tapatío, garlic and butter, but actually found an unopened bottle of wing sauce in the pantry that must have survived the move from Iowa last summer. Weird. (But not really weird, if you know me at all, and if you know how many bottles of barbecue sauce are in there, too).  Last time I made these things, I tossed half with wing sauce and half with BBQ, then fed them to an 11 year old kid. He didn't really like them, but I think he did eat a couple bites as a side dish for his pile of ketchup. He didn't like anything I made, though, so there's that. (That's a lie. He liked these S'mores cookies.)

I think I have enough food in the house to get me to Tuesday, when my next CSA box arrives. Last week, I ate almost an entire head of cabbage, and it seems I'll be getting another cabbage this week. So.... Let's think about that. I'm supposedly getting more turnips, too. Yikes. As of this morning, I've decided I officially don't like rooibos tea. And as of Christmas Eve, I don't like turnips. At least the roasted kind. But I'm going to try something different with the little bastards the next time they come around... maybe blended with butternut squash in a soup?? If ya'll have any turnip tips, I'm listening.

In comparison with my old CSA in Iowa, my new CSA in Texas has a bit less variety in the veggie box each week, but I bet there are several reasons for that. One, this is Texas and things don't grow here like they do in Iowa. (One point for Iowa.) Two, I started this share in the fall/winter when harvests are less robust in general (though the CSAs in Iowa generally give up about November because of the freezing and such. One point for Texas). Three, I'm eating this entire box all by myself every other week, but in Iowa, I was splitting a weekly share with a friend/residentmate. And... Four, Granny's Garden is new at the whole CSA thing and it seems they have been making improvements and adjustments as the weeks roll by. They also deliver to my front door, which is cool. So, I'm going to stick with it through the spring/summer seasons and see what's in store.

Ok... Fortunately, I get to speak to a living human in about a half hour. Unfortunately, that requires me to change out of fleecy pajamas and head out into the cold, wet weather. We're having Pei Wei and I'm considering a step outside of the Pad Thai box. I need some time to consider the options.

Ciao!

Cauliflower Fried Rice

One of my favorite things to do is ask J what food he dislikes.. and make that for dinner. Cooked cauliflower is one of those things, so naturally I scoured the internet for 101 ways to work it in to meals. 

If you have been anywhere near the world wide web in the past year, you might have noticed that cauliflower is the vegetable version of Jennifer Lawrence. A popular cousin to kale, cauliflower is incredibly versatile. It has masqueraded as pizza crust, mashed potatoes, buffalo wings and other random things. See?? It's the crucifer who somebody finally noticed was awesome and now gets to be part of the "in crowd." (But it doesn't care about being in the in crowd.) Anyway, today I'm going to share with you yet another trendy way to up your vegetable quotient using cauliflower:

 Fried rice! 

There are numerous cauliflower fried rice recipes floating around the interwebs. There is even a YouTube video available for instruction on how to "rice" cauliflower in a blender. Yep. (You know you want to Google that.) For me, simply using a food processor works every time. BAM. The recipe I chose for my first foray into cauliflower rice last year was this one by Brianne at Cupcakes & Kale Chips. I was initially unsure of how this cauliflower trickery would actually taste and liked that her version was a 50:50 dilution with cooked brown rice (just in case....). 

Not surprisingly, J and I were impressed with the original recipe and we've since made "fried rice" a recurring theme on our dinner menu. Seriously- the cauliflower looks and tastes so much like traditional fried rice that we no longer mix it with brown rice at all. Look at us - we are so admirable and healthy! Tonight, we used it as a side dish for veggie potstickers, but with the quick addition of marinated tofu, chicken or pork, the recipe is easily transformed into a solid main dish. Again, this rice is infinitely adaptable to all sorts of manipulations. I used peas n' carrots because that's what I had in my house, but truly, my favorite additions are broccoli and snap peas. 

Cauliflower Fried Rice

 

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 25 min

Servings: 4-6 (side vs main dish)

INGREDIENTS:

one large head of cauliflower, raw

1 T coconut oil

6 scallions, chopped (separate dark green tops)

5 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 t chopped fresh ginger

¾ c sliced carrots

¾ c frozen peas

2 eggs                       

4 T reduced-sodium soy sauce, divided

1 T sesame oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Chop the cauliflower into large florets and discard the leaves and stem.

2. Place cauliflower into food processor, and pulse until it resembles small rice.

3. Heat 1 T oil in a very large, deep skillet over medium heat.

4. Add the white parts of the scallions, garlic, ginger, and carrots. Saute for 3 minutes.

5. Add the cauliflower, stir to coat, spread out in the pan, then allow to cook for several minutes, until it begins to caramelize.

6. Stir, then spread out to caramelize again for another several minutes. Repeat for a total of three times.

7. While the cauliflower is caramelizing, lightly beat the eggs with 2T soy sauce and set aside.

8. Mix the sesame oil with the remaining 2T soy sauce and set aside.

9. Increase the heat to medium-high and stir in the peas.

10. Make a well in the center of the rice and pour in the egg mixture. Quickly scramble the eggs.

11. Stir the entire contents of the pan together, and stir in the soy/sesame oil.

12. Top with chopped scallion greens. 

NUTRITION INFORMATION (per serving, 6): 

Calories 111; Total Fat 3.5g; Cholesterol 62 mg; Protein 7.2 g, Dietary Fiber 5.4 g

If you are at all interested, I encourage you to try it. It might rock your world and broaden your horizons when it comes to cooked cauliflower. Just ask Jason!