I'm glad we went. But it's also kind of depressing that it was even necessary. It's depressing that so many people are still so homophobic that they see even discussing the existance of queer people as an "adult topic" and queerness as somehow inappropriate for children.
Anyway, none of that is really relevant to cauliflower. But I needed to tell you that story to tell you this one:
While we were downtown, we spotted a sign for "Taste the 4th Sense", which TF immediately recognized as being somehow related to a business she used to frequent at the Fergus Market (nearly 20 years ago)!
We got chatting with the owners and it turns out that yes, it is the same business, just under new ownership. They still make a lot of the same products (including the garlic oil that was a staple of TF's pantry when we first met) and also have an incredible selection of locally made sauces and spice blends. And you're allowed -- encouraged, in fact -- to taste and sample everything before you buy it! It's really a wonderful shop.
We came out with three new sauces + some Christmas presents and a new cookbook.
I haven't looked through the cookbook in any detail yet, but I did notice this cauliflower and bok choy recipe near the beginning. And by sheer coincidence TM recently gave us a bunch of baby bok choy. And cauliflower was on sale at the grocery store last week. So this seemed like a natural fit as an additional vegetable side to go with our dinner last night. And, man-oh-man, it was so tasty!
I was worried that the BBQ sauce would make it too sticky and sweet, but it was just right. And despite some initial misgivings, the cauliflower and bok choy were great together! And the cashews and the mushrooms really take it over the top. It's just fantastic. Definitely a keeper.
Sheet Pan BBQ Cauliflower
Slightly adapted from Awaken Your 4th Sense: Volume 1 by the Taste Kitchen
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower1, cut into florets
- 225g mushrooms2, sliced
- 2 Tbsp. garlic oil (either home-made or conveniently ready-made from Taste)
- 1/2 c. raw cashews
- 9 heads baby bok choy3
- 1/2 c. BBQ sauce (preferably Big Stooley's Smoked Jalapeño Apple BBQ Sauce), divided
Directions
- Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and line a baking sheet with a silione baking mat.
- Toss the cauliflower and mushrooms with the garlic oil and spread, in an even layer, over the prepared baking sheet.
- Distribute the cashews evenly over the vegetables.
- Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 20 minutes, stir, then continue baking for 15 minutes longer.
- Meanwhile, rinse the bok choy and cut into bite-sized pieces.
- Toss the bok choy with 1/4 c. of the BBQ sauce and add this to the vegetable mixture on the baking sheet.
- Bake for another 15 minutes or so, stirring every 5 minutes.
- Once the bok choy stems are tender, remove from oven and drizzle the remaining 1/4 c. of BBQ sauce over the vegetables.
- Serve as an appetizer or vegetable side dish.
1 The original recipe calls for 450g cauliflower florets. We just used a whole head of cauliflower which worked out to ~600g of florets. Back
2 The original recipe calls for shiitake mushrooms, but they didn't have any at the grocery store when I went, so we just ended up doing it with cremini. (And it was delicious!) That said, I think shiitake or oyster mushrooms also would have been excellent in this. Maybe next time I'll visit the folks at Noki Farms and see what they have available. Their mushrooms are always so fresh and lovely (they grow them on-site) and I think some of their black pearl or pink oyster mushrooms would be fantastic in this dish! Back
3 The original recipe only called for 3 heads of baby bok choy, but we had 9 and they needed to be used, so we just put them all in and I quite like that ratio. I would do it that way again in the future. Back
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