If you’re planning to watch a certain football game this weekend, check out my healthy Super Bowl XLIX recipes over at Garlic Gold®! Couch potato it up with Sweet Potato Nachos, scoop up some Garlic Guacamole, and just try to stop popping Cauliflower Buffalo Bites.
Cauliflower Buffalo Bites
As you may know from glancing over at the sidebar, I write weekly recipes for an organic gourmet food company called Garlic Gold®. Based in Ventura, California, they make crunchy garlic condiments and infused oils and dressings that are totally unique and delicious. If you don’t have their products on hand, you can still make these recipes — just substitute a couple cloves of garlic, diced and sautéed in a bit of olive oil ’til golden-brown.
Of all of my football snacks, I’m most proud of and excited about these Cauliflower Buffalo Bites. Most recipes along these lines keep the florets of cauliflower whole, but I love the texture you get from processing them along with the other ingredients, then baking the dollops until they’re crunchy and browned around the edges. Dunked in a simple blue cheese dip, they’re totally irresistible!
Cauliflower Buffalo Bites
Ingredients
For the buffalo bites:
- 1 large orange or white cauliflower cored and broken into small florets
- 3/4 cup lowfat milk
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 jumbo egg
- 1/4 cup Garlic Gold® Nuggets
- 1/4 cup your favorite hot sauce Cholula or Frank’s Red Hot work well
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons Garlic Gold® Oil
For the dip:
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
- 2 ounces crumbled blue cheese
- 2 tablespoons Garlic Gold® Nuggets
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- Use a food processor to finely chop the cauliflower, processing it in three batches. It should resemble couscous in texture and size.
- Transfer the cauliflower to a large mixing bowl, and use a large mixing spoon to scoot it to the sides of the bowl, making a well in the center.
- In the center of the mixing bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients. Stir together the ingredients in the center of the bowl into a batter, just until all of the flour is absorbed. Incorporate the cauliflower from the sides of the bowl just until thoroughly combined into the batter.
- Dollop the mixture in heaping tablespoonfuls onto the lined baking sheets. The bites won’t spread much during cooking, so they don’t need to be more than an inch apart.
- Bake for 35 minutes, or until the bites are golden brown on the bottom and cooked through.
- Serve hot with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing on the side.
For the dip:
- In a small mixing bowl, combine ingredients. Refrigerate and let sit for at least an hour before serving.
Notes
Where would I find Garlic Gold products? I am interested in trying out your Cauliflower Buffalo Bites – what could I substitute for the Garlic Gold nuggets and Garlic Gold oil? Thanks!
Instead of the 1/4 cup of nuggets and 2 tablespoons of oil, you can sauté about eight large cloves of garlic in two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. That should do it! Otherwise, you can find the nuggets at some grocery stores including Berkeley Bowl and Rainbow Grocery in SF (it’s best to call ahead to make sure they’re in stock).