Garlic Parmesan Cauliflower “Wings”

It has been a hot minute since I’ve posted a recipe. That’s mainly because the hubs has been doing most of the cooking. Also we’ve been experimenting with reducing the amount of animal products we consume. Not for any big soap box reason, but after watching a few too many Netflix documentaries we decided we wanted to be a bit more mindful of what we eat and where it comes from. So we’ve been working out the kinks on our new recipe ventures.

We haven’t completely given up meat and dairy but have probably reduced it by about half or more. It’s been pretty fun to play around with substitutes and find what works and what doesn’t. A vegan friend suggested trying cauliflower wings. Now I had heard of this before and was skeptical. I told her so. She swore that her father-in-law, a huge carnivore, loved them. That was enough to convince me to at least give it a try. I found a buffalo cauliflower recipe from allrecipes.com and gave it a go.

You know what? My friend was right. The taste and texture were a total satisfying  substitute, and that’s coming from a wing lover. I even used the leftovers to make a buffalo flatbread sandwich by adding some shredded cabbage and carrots.

After making this a few times I got to thinking. My favorite wings are actually garlic Parmesan. Why wouldn’t that work too? And so my garlic Parmesan cauliflower wings were born. Now when we make “wings” we do half buffalo and half garlic Parmesan.

I will say I love the garlic Parmesan version just as much, but they are a less convincing full on substituent than the buffalo version. There’s still a hint of the cauliflower taste with the garlic and Parmesan flavors. In the buffalo version the sauce completely masks the cauliflower. It was still a hit though!

Ingredients
– 1 head cauliflower cut into 1 inch pieces
– 3/4 cup of flour
– 1 cup of water
– 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
– 4 TBSP butter
– 2 TBSP minced garlic
– 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions for cauliflower 
1. Preheat oven to 450.
2. Grease a large baking sheet.
3. Mix flour, water, salt and pepper.
4. Toss and coat the cauliflower pieces in the flour mixture. After they are completely coated, spread the cauliflower pieces in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes until browned.

Directions for sauce
5. Place the butter and garlic in a small sauce pan over medium heat. After the butter has melted stir and cook the garlic for about 2 minutes.

6. Remove the cauliflower from the oven and pour butter and garlic and then shredded Parmesan evenly over the cauliflower pieces. Using a spatula toss the cauliflower pieces. Place back in oven for another 10 minutes.
7. Cook for 10 minutes and serve with your favorite dipping sauce.