I love buffalo wings. I remember eating buffalo wings so hot it burned our lips and made us cry in the snack bar overlooking the ice rink at Rockefeller Center. If food had no consequences for weight or health I’m pretty sure I could live on buffalo wings, chocolate ice cream, deep fried zucchini and champagne. Sadly, this is not the case. I’ve had to seek out an alternative to buffalo wings. And inspired by the buffalo cauliflower (discontinued!) at Smith & Wollensky London, I’ve been trying out various methods for oven baked buffalo cauliflower. I do have a deep fat fryer but I’m afraid to try a deep fried version – it might be irresistible. So baked it must be.
Good news and bad news. Baked buffalo cauliflower tastes fabulous = good news. I cannot make it crunchy = bad news. My recipe below makes it less soggy and less messy but crunchy it is not. Still a great way to make cauliflower interesting (without cheese sauce and macaroni) and it’s relatively healthy.
There is a bit of ‘in and out’ of the oven with this recipe. And some tips to decrease the soggy quotient but it’s fairly simple. I started with a recipe from Cookie&Kate and adapted it for European ingredients, methods, measurements and eliminating garlic.
I use Frank’s Red Hot Sauce in my wings, feel free to use your favourite. Here’s a great article on hot sauce from Spruce Eats. Make it vegan by using your favourite butter substitute.
Recipe
- 1 large head of cauliflower (kilo or more)
- 15 grams or 2 tablespoons of corn flour (corn starch for Americans)
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon of ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 to 4 tablespoons of your favourite hot sauce, to taste (see above for choices)
- 30 grams unsalted butter, melted
Equipment
Four things can help with this recipe – it’s all about more crisp and less soggy.
- Use a Ziplock bag to coat the florets with corn flour and spices.
- Put parchment paper on your baking sheet(s)
- Try using a fine mesh rack over the baking parchment
- Use the fan oven
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C fan oven (220C no fan)(425F) with racks in the bottom half of the oven.
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper to prevent the cauliflower from sticking. If you have fine mesh racks (say for cookie cooling or similar use those as well)
- Cut the cauliflower into florets no more than 5 cms (2 inches) in size.
- Put the cornstarch, cumin and pepper in a Ziplock. Shake to mix. Add the cauliflower florets and shake until well coated.
- Drizzle in the olive oil and toss again until lightly and evenly coated.
- Arrange the florets evenly across the prepared baking sheets. Space them out well – they would fit on a single baking sheet but spaced out gives a better result.
- Roast the cauliflower for 20 minutes on the lower rack, then gently toss. Return the pan to the lower rack and bake until the cauliflower is tender and golden, about 10 more minutes.
- Meanwhile combine the hot sauce and melted butter. Whisk to combine. Taste, and stir in another tablespoon of hot sauce if desired. Once the cauliflower is golden, transfer it to the bowl and gently toss until the cauliflower is well coated.
- Arrange the cauliflower on the pan in a single layer once again. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the cauliflower is blistered in spots, about 10 more minutes. Serve as desired with blue cheese or Ranch style dressing.
Thank you for reading the blog and cooking the recipes. Tag me @mamadolson on Instagram or Twitter if you’ve got photos. Leave your comments and ask your questions below.