Entertaining.... Stepping Up My Game

When food prep is part of your Zen because your "Love Language" is acts of service.

Have you read The 5 love languages by Gary Chapman? It's a great read and categorizes the 5 ways people show love to others and the way they like to be loved back in return. I guess people are complicated because how you like to give and receive love may not be the same thing! My love language is acts of service.... more specifically cooking for people and enjoying a home made meal with friends and family. So I suppose for those that know me, starting this blog was a "no brainer" for my chosen content. #the5lovelanguages #Garychapman

I gain alot personally from my love language of giving. I personally gain from loving the process of making food as much as I love making people happy eating it. I set myself up, play some of my favourite music, pour a glass of white wine and get to work! I find cooking creative... I rarely stick to a recipe and find ways to enhance flavors or simply change them up... the other personal bonus of this blog is actually forcing me to write down what I have put in and quantities to help others re-create it. That's not to say I don't start with inspiration from other blogs, I often surf Pinterest for a dinner idea and I love our "ideas community" for that purpose.... but then I seemingly go rogue!

I also love that the pooch seeks out some zen time and the same time... melts your heart doesn't it?

So we hosted and evening last night with friend... A potluck of sorts but an opportunity to make a solid appetizer.... I will sometimes opt for a vegetarian appie for these events to ensure there is something beyond the inevitable "veggie tray" to eat...if you are vegetarian, I know you have been to at least one of those parties where you feel like a rabbit and that your friends don't appreciate or acknowledge you.... I get the same feeling when I go to a party and everything has cheese or butter on it..... you're welcome! lol

So I have talked a lot about the ability to find organic food for a reasonable price! I wanted to share that as I shopped for this appy at Super store my organic head of cauliflower was on sale for $1 less than the conventional head of cauliflower and was only slightly smaller. #organic

So here is the line up for the "breading" for the cauliflower bites. It also includes soya sauce but alas, I forgot it for the photo!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Start by breaking up/cutting the cauliflower in to small bite sized florets. In a bowl combine approx. 1 cup of milk or non dairy milk, Pacific Brand organic unsweetened cashew is my current favourite available in Canada #pacificfoods.

Add 1 cup of cassava flour or another "starch like" flour such as corn starch (Most corn starch is from GMO corn FYI) and 1 cup of flour. I would not recommend a nut based flour to make this gluten free, the consistency is not great but a cup for cup gluten free blend would work fine. #glutenfree

Stir together and add 2 tablespoons of sesame oil and 2 table spoons soya sauce, and a generous sprinkle of garlic powder. This will set you up with a fairly thick batter that will not work... from here gradually add water until it hits the consistency of a creamy but not thick soup... if you drop a single floret in and the mix coats it and it can sink down you probably have the correct consistency. If your batter drips completely off you have gone too thin and please start adjusting with the two flours until it has the right texture. If you go back and forth a few times in this process remember that the soya sauce and sesame oil give the bites a subtle flavor, you can adjust these too but the big impact is the sauce that will follow so no worries!

So sometimes my kids help me in the kitchen. I love teaching them the art of food prep but being fairly A type, sometimes they do not do it as I would. But.... this is a valuable point for those of you looking to recreate this dish... One of the C2's placed the florets out on a parchment lined baking sheet for me.... she did a great job but... we should have "shook them off" a bit more. As you can see there was some batter pooling on the parchment underneath... you want to avoid this, but it isn't devastating to the dish. You will just have chunks of "baked batter" that either end up accompanying a chunk of cauli to your serving dish, or you discard it at presentation stage.

Bake the florets in the oven for approximately 30 minutes. At about 20 minutes start checking it to ensure that you are not starting to burn. You can also take a look at the batter consistency at the bottom versus the top and at the 20 minute mark opt for a low broil to crisp up the top. Keep a good and regular eye on them if you choose to do this... especially since you will now be prepping the sauce once the base is in the oven!

Thinly slice fresh garlic but leave them in fairly substantial slices. Sauté in a high heat oil. Depending on the amount of cauliflower you need to cover, generally your sauce will then be equal parts oil and rice vinegar with 2 table spoons soya sauce, and 2-3 table spoons of sesame oil. Mix in some red chili paste or some dried chili's... I will completely leave this part to you and your "heat" tolerance. Add in the cooked garlic and set aside to settle. Just before you add this to the cauli bites add in cassava flour or your starch of choice 1 table spoon at a time and whip to blend through. Your consistency should not be thick at all but just make a slight texture difference from the oil and rice wine blend.

Pour the mix as evenly as possible across the top of the cauli florets... you can toss the florets around at this point and turn them over. Place in the oven again for minimum 10 minutes to allow the thickening agent (starch) to do its job to create.... option 2, fully bake the cauli florets and then stove heat the sauce with the thickening agent to create a thick sticky sauce, and then toss directly before serving!

I typically plate out and sprinkle some green onions on top, you could also use sesame seeds. This was a party hit and my hope for leftovers dashed! Good luck and let me know how it went if you tried this out!