Sunday Funday
To celebrate national PKU awareness day I figured I would share our favorite Sunday tradition... buffalo cauliflower/chicken wings.
Sundays are for catching up on work, laundry, and lounging around the house. However, during the fall, Sundays are for football. I am so blessed to live in New England for many reasons but mostly for the Patriots (and Tom Brady). My husband, a Chicago Bears fan has not been as lucky in recent years. We hope that past the era of Belichik/Brady the tides will turn and we will have another championship team to root for. Bear down, am I right?!
Sundays are also for wings. This tradition started with football season last year and now, every Sunday we have wings. Nick goes crazy over these. If you are making the chicken wings also, the key is to get "party wings". Apparently these are much better than the whole chicken wings, which I cannot speak to. Roast them with some Goya Adobo all purpose seasoning at 400 for 45-50 minutes. If you line the cookie sheet with parchment paper it makes for easy clean up. Toss in buffalo sauce and serve. These are no fail.
For several years, I struggled with adapting the recipe so I could enjoy the buffalo sauce as well. The buffalo sauce itself is low in phe. I add vinegar and a splash of worcestershire. This softens the heat. However, you can take down the heat by adding more butter or oil of choice. I would put it on potatoes for a not-so-low option. Then, I tried the Aproten pasta. Unfortunately, the pasta did not absorb the flavor very well.
Enter: cauliflower.
Cauliflower is the bomb. This stuff is my favorite and so easy to adapt for different textures and recipes. It is pretty low in phe, so it is a win all around. I can eat a whole head of cauliflower wings myself. If you are more restricted on phe you could adapt with a low protein breading. There are two successful types of breading I have worked with; wheat starch and Cambrooke burger patty mix. You can mix the wheat starch or burger patty mix with water and toss to coat cauliflower. Drizzle with oil, then roast. Either of these will be the low[er] phe option. I prefer straight up cauliflower because when I taste tested I did not feel the breading added more flavor. The cauliflower seems to suck up the buffalo sauce nicely. Other substitutions I have done:
-Cambrooke Tweekz sliced in half and roasted. Then, toss in buffalo sauce. In college, our chef would deep fry the tweekz and toss in buffalo, which was my favorite sorority house low pro treat.
-Jackfruit roasted and tossed in buffalo sauce. Slightly different texture than the "wings".
Add some celery and you have a party-ready platter to share with guests.
Buffalo sauce should make enough for one tray of party wings and one head of cauliflower.
1/2 stick of butter
1 tablespoon worcestershire
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup Franks red hot sauce
Melt, mix, and toss to coat both sets of "wings". The more sauce, the better. Add more or less butter or hot sauce to your liking. Enjoy and root for your favorite team!