Sticky, sweet and spicy cauliflower

This was ahhh-mazing. When I am about to work a few shifts in a row, I am all about the meal prep and this dish was so easy and delicious to pack with a side of rice and bring to work with me for a few days.

Everyone who knows me knows that when you open my fridge, you will always find shelves jam packed with food but you will also find every sauce and condiment and sauce on the face of the planet. I am all about the sauces, with everything and I promise you that the sauce that I made for this cauliflower was amazing and delicious. It was so easy and came together in less than 10 minutes. After tasting this sauce I am convinced that it would taste good on pretty much any veggie or meat- and it is the perfect sauce for your favourite stir fry.

The roasted cauliflower was the perfect vehicle for this delicious sauce, which turned out to be sweet, spicy, sticky and delicious. It is also made with simple ingredients all of which I had in my pantry already so I didn't have to make any additional trips to the grocery store.

Soooooooo before I move onto the recipe, can we just take a minute to talk about the importance of some staple pantry items and condiments that I always have on hand because having them makes it easy to throw together many sauces and recipes even when I feel like my cupboards are bare. If you are new to cooking, you don't have to go out and buy all of these things all at once, because that could get pricey. But add a couple items to your grocery list each week and soon you will have all the essentials that you need when you want to make a delicious meal. 1) Good olive oil 2) Vinegars- rice wine, balsamic and white wine vinegars are a few of my favourites and add so much flavour to so many sauces and meals. 3) Grainy mustard 4) GARLIC 5) Fresh parmesan cheese 6) Worcestershire sauce
7) Liquid smoke 8) Coconut milk 9) Sesame oil 10) Chicken, vegetable and beef stock. Having these ingredients on hand will ensure that you can throw together a quick and delicious meal without having to make another grocery run

Okay, so I kept it to my top 10 but writing those out made me realize that at some point I need to do a post about all of my favourite ingredients so keep your eyes out for that in the future. I will also break down why I love all of the above mentioned ingredients and how I use them all very regularly.

I got a little side tracked there for a minute but its time to get to the recipe. So- what I actually did after this cauliflower was cooked was cut up a chicken breast (which was leftover in my fridge) and add it to the cauliflower and sauce. I paired it with some rice and voila- I had meals for 4 shifts, and I ate it that night for dinner.

Recipe:
1 head of cauliflower cut up into small florets
2 tbsp olive oil (for roasting the cauliflower)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup of pure maple syrup
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp garlic, chopped finely
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
1/2 tsp red chill flakes
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp cornstarch (for thickening the sauce)
sesame seeds (for garnish)

Instructions:

Cauliflower before going into the oven

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees

2. Line a baking tray with parchment paper (you don't have to do this, but it will ensure that your cauliflower doesn't stick- and it makes for easy cleanup.

3- Cut your cauliflower into small bite size pieces, toss in olive oil, sprinkle with salt and fresh pepper and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, flip cauliflower so the other side can brown, return to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes until your cauliflower is just tender.

Cauliflower is done-just starting to brown

4. While your cauliflower is baking, make your sauce. Add all ingredients except the water and cornstarch to a small sauce pan.

5. While your sauce is heating up, mix the cornstarch and water together (this will be a thickener for the sauce) Make sure it is mixed well and you have no lumps.

4. When the sauce boils, add the water/cornstarch mixture and bring sauce back to a boil. Once it comes back to a boil, turn your stove to low-medium heat and continue to stir for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat.

The sweet, sticky, spicy sauce

5. Mix the sauce with the cauliflower. You can mix in any protein or other cooked veggie that you want at this point.

6. Serve with rice or your favourite stir fry side.