Meal Plan: Jan 24th-Jan 29th Part 2- Beer and Lime Roasted Cauliflower

The main vegetable component to this week's recipe was the Beer and Lime Roasted Cauliflower. This is the last recipe I tried from Thug Kitchen and they serve them as tacos. I decided to leave out the taco factor and serve it over the Baked Spanish Rice that I wrote about in my last post.

I love baked cauliflower. Love it. Roasted with just some oil, salt and pepper, there's nothing better. (Obviously, oil isn't an option, and I've gotta say while I don't miss the calories that come along with the oil, I sure do miss the flavor. Anyone who says you can get the same flavor out of onions and other things with the oil is just fooling themselves. Okay, rant over.) That's why I was super excited to make this recipe.



Once again, I was a bit disappointed as this dish was just okay. The recipe is promising, but I still couldn't really make it sing. This has been my overall experience with this cookbook (more on that later) which either means this cookbook is overrated or that my cooking skills are lacking. Who knows?

Anyway, you start by combining alot of ingredients in a pan to make a sauce and then you add the cauliflower and simmer so it'll soak up some sauce. I doubled the recipe and used some frozen cauliflower that wasn't fully defrosted so that made this part tough. Losing patience, I drained the sauce, put the cauliflower on a baking sheet, added the rest of the spices and began to roast it. Meanwhile, I decided to reduce the sauce down as much as possible and then I poured that over the cauliflower and cooked until it was absorbed. I should've kept going until these were realllllly shrunken down but I was hungry! This is some spicy cauliflower as I used sriracha so be aware and adjust accordingly. Hopefully you'll be more of a fan than I was. Below you'll find the recipe for the cauliflower in the book.

Beer and Lime Roasted Cauliflower
from Thug Kitchen

1 head cauliflower
3/4 cup beer
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1 tbsp lime juice
1 1/2 tsp tamari or soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp of your go to chipotle hot sauce
1-2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
pinch salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, chopped

Preheat your oven to 400 and prepare a rimmed baking sheet.
Chop the cauliflower into small florets. In a saucepan, warm the beer, broth, lime juice, tamari, hot sauce and garlic over medium heat. Add the cauliflower and simmer for about 1/2 minutes. Drain.
Toss the spices, salt and oil (if using) in a large bowl. Add the cauliflower and chopped onion and stir to coat. Pour onto your prepared baking sheet and bake until well browned- recipe says 20 minutes but go as long as you need.