Perhaps the October of 2019 is a peculiar time to begin writing online. To continue blogging through a long-established platform, yes, that's perfectly legitimate. But, in the age of peak(?) media saturation, is that too ambitious a task? The term "blogosphere" was coined over 20-years ago now, and that world/parallel literary universe has since been populated with many veritable inhabitants.
I guess this brings me back to what my purpose is. Of course, I could have come here with the lofty goals of "building an audience" or "cultivating a community", but I think it's healthier to begin with me. Food has always been something I've enjoyed; in the past few years this has extended to cooking it and, for the past one year, thinking intensely about it. However, "thinking intensely" isn't exactly a creative mode of expression. Sure, I could write a quick and maybe-witty caption on Instagram about the mac n' cheese I've just taken out of the oven, but it's definitely not the right platform to climb onto a soapbox and get all reflective.
So, this is for myself and my own development? Well... maybe not completely. I think that if I tell myself enough that I'm writing primarily to express, then I've given the isolationist streak in me the required permission to scream "I've started a blog! But really it's just for me so you don't need to, y'know, READ IT or anything..." before inaudibly uttering "but, if you did read it anyway without me having to ask you to, that would be pretty cool".
Putting any notions of "going viral" (is that term already outdated?) aside, the most rewarding potential result from this would be to give me the ability to talk and share, and the knowledge that there are people listening and receiving. Will that mean having conversations that I consider uncomfortable? Invariably.
OK. So while I do want to be sincere and candid, I also want to talk about food. I could outline how I feel about food, but I've written briefly about that on my "about" page, and I think if you were to be so kind to follow along with my writing then (I hope) that should reveal itself to you! Without further ado, I'd like to present the inaugural recipe that I have chosen to launch into this multi-sphere of tastes and words (which, I suppose is just Google):
Sriracha Roasted Cauliflower
Sriracha's moment in the anglophone food scene has come and played out, resulting in it being familiar to most of us; while it hasn't quite reached the same state of exaltation as ketchup or mayonnaise, store cupboard spots are increasingly being reserved for it. It originally came from the canon of Thai and Vietnamese cooking, but was introduced in the US in the 1980's by the Huy Fong brand and it has enjoyed an accelerated proliferation in the past ten years. The UK & Ireland clothes giant Primark even marketed shirts a while back emblazoned with the ubiquitous "flying rooster" featured on the bottle - and, yes, I do regret not buying one.
Cauliflower, on the other hand, is much more well established among British taste buds. The tightly-flowered alabaster domes are embroiled in a long history defined by boiling and mildness that, while fine in itself, is being overtaken by a tendency towards the application of dry heat. Yes, I am talking about roasting!
Personally, I rarely boil cauliflower. Although the thought of a vegetable yielding like butter to the press of steel is somewhat comforting, I feel like roasting gives me so many more options. And, is there any vegetable that is more of blank canvas than a white cauliflower? Now I wouldn't claim to amalgamate flavour with the deftness of a culinary impressionist, but I think the sriracha marinade detailed below is very much worth coating on to your cauliflower canvas.
Ingredients & Method
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
1/2 tbsp of vegetable oil
250g of cauliflower
3 tbsp of sriracha
1 lime, zested and juiced
1 tbsp of soy sauce
Leaves from 4 coriander stalks, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1 inch piece of ginger, diced
1/2 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of paprika
Pinch of salt
1/4 tsp of MSG (optional)
First, preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (390 degrees Fahrenheit) and grease a baking tray with the oil.
Take a knife which isn't too sharp and use the tip to break your cauliflower into florets. Ideally, each floret should be around the size of a golf ball, so cut any particularly large florets in half. Cauliflowers naturally vary however, so don't worry if your florets are not completely consistent. Once done, put aside.
Combine sriracha, lime juice and zest, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, coriander, sugar, paprika, salt and MSG (if using) into a bowl and mix. Taste a small amount of the mixture before applying to the cauliflower and adjust to taste if needed.
Take each floret of cauliflower and dip it into the sriracha mixture, taking care to ensure that every crag of the floret is coated. Once fulled coated, place in the greased baking dish and repeat for each floret. If you have surplus mixture then pour this over the florets in the dish.
(Admittedly, the florets should now look somewhat reminiscent to blood-soaked, bleached brains. I would ask you here to remember that that will be more delicious than appearances promise, and also that this recipe could potentially feature as part of a Halloween celebration!)
Put the baking dish into the preheated oven and roast for 35 minutes, turning halfway through. If you like roasted cauliflower to have a little more char to it, then I recommend that you leave the dish in for an extra five minutes to obtain an extra-crispy texture.
Once out of the oven, serve as part of a salad or with white rice. A fair bit of the mixture will still be in the bottom of the baking tray, so do not hesitate to pour this over your cauliflower to maximise the flavour!
Adjustments
There are lots of potential adjustments that could be made to this recipe, many of which will come from individual taste preferences. I do have a few suggestions below:
If you would like the marinade to be thicker, mix the liquid ingredients together first. Then, take 1 tsp of cornflour and mix in a separate bowl with 1 tsp of sriracha mix and stir into a paste. Stir in the rest of your liquid gradually to avoid lumps, and before adding the solid ingredients. This will take extra time to do, but it will result in a mixture that coats the cauliflower rather than anointing it.
If you're not so keen on citrus tastes, I suggest using only the juice of the lime rather than both juice and the zest. The inclusion of the zest results in a strong lime flavour due to the citrus oils that are stored there, and using just the juice will give it a more subtle fruity acidity.
If you would prefer the dish with a little less heat, then substitute 1 tbsp of sriracha for an equivalent amount of barbecue sauce or tomato ketchup (there is room for experimentation here!)
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