Buffalo Cauliflower Sliders with Celery Slaw & Blue Cheese Crumbles

 

All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2013

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All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option.  Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out.  It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing.  The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.

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First things first!  My debut novel was released this week.  Here is the cover.

Here is the synopsis:

BATHING & THE SINGLE GIRL is the smutty, mercilessly irreverent and laugh-out-loud funny debut novel by actress Christine Elise McCarthy.  Inspired by her one-woman short film of the same name, it’s the kind of novel Jonathan Ames might write if he’d dropped out of college and had been working as an actress in Hollywood for the last 20 years.

The life of an actress in LA isn’t all glamour, money, and bedding rock stars.  Sometimes it’s more about humiliation, red wine hangovers, and the bad decisions they fuel.  Ruby Fitzgerald has barely worked in years, not that anyone remembers her for anything but her short stint on a long-canceled but iconic TV show.  But that was back when her career prospects seemed on the upswing — longer ago that Ruby cares to admit, and awkward sex with regrettable partners is doing nothing to take the edge off. Everything once functional in her house is going on strike, but the unemployment checks barely cover the mortgage, and a self-respecting girl needs to be able to pay her bar tab — so repairs are on hold.  One more bubble bath and a few more cocktails.  A gal can always get responsible tomorrow.

With everything mounting against her, a cranky and increasingly despairing Ruby will have to find out if her life’s larger indignities are the result of bad luck, or a chronically bad attitude.  What follows is a walking tour of the hilarious depths you can sink to if you stop exercising your best judgment.

Check out the web site & buy the book!  It is available online at Amazon & Barnes and Noble etc.  http://www.bathingandthesinglegirlbook.com/

That said – I made these sliders today & I am in love!  Spicy & crunchy & creamy – all at once!  They come together in the time it takes to roast the cauliflower – which is about 20 minutes.  If you are vegan – I guess you have to lose the blue cheese crumbles but the slaw can easily be made vegan by subbing the blue cheese dressing with vegan mayonnaise.  Yum!

Buffalo Cauliflower Sliders with Celery Slaw & Blue Cheese Crumbles

Makes about 4 sliders (depending on the size of your veggies)

1/2 head cauliflower – cut into 3/4 inch slices

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup grated carrots

2 TBS blue cheese dressing plus extra for drizzling (or a vegan mayo)

Buffalo sauce – I used Frank’s Red Hot

Blue Cheese – crumbled (omit for a vegan variety)

Slider buns

S&P to taste

Scallions – sliced

DIRECTIONS

Heat the oven to 450.  Spray a cooking sheet with cooking spray or use parchment paper.  Arrange the sliced cauliflower on it & smother with Buffalo sauce.  Roast for ten minutes, flip the cauliflower, add additional Buffalo sauce & roast another 10 minutes.

In a bowl, mix the carrots, celery & blue cheese dressing (or vegan mayo) & season with S&P.

When the cauliflower is done, simply assemble the sliders.  I topped the bottom bun with the slaw & then cauliflower, blue cheese crumbles & sliced scallions.  I drizzled a bit of blue cheese dressing & Buffalo sauce on them, topped them with the bun tops & ate them like they were going out of style!

Spicy Vegetarian Buffalo Chicken Pasta

All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2013

Follow @celisemccarthy

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To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.

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All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option.  Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out.  It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing.  The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.

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I made this for myself the night I made by badass boyfriend, Miles, this Easy Spicy Southern Chicken Spaghetti.

You could easily leave out the faux chicken or sub it out with some cooked real chicken.  This is really just all about the Velveeta & the Buffalo sauce.  Easy, naughty & delicious!

This casserole fell victim to the same oven mutiny that the Chicken Spaghetti did so my first effort had a VERY crispy top & the inside was more dry than I’d hoped.  I fixed it by simply adding more melted Velveeta heated with some milk, tossed it all together, topped with a bit more cheese & panko & then just heated that through until the panko browned.

Below are my two efforts – the original & the redesigned leftovers.

Spicy Vegetarian Buffalo Chicken Pasta

INGREDIENTS

1/2 lb dry pasta – cooked

8 oz vegan chicken (or cooked real chicken)

1 TBS butter

1 TBS flour

3/4 cup milk (plus extra for reheating leftovers)

8 oz Velveeta (plus extra for reheating leftovers)

1 cup grated cheese (I used a mozzarella/cheddar mix)

1/3 cup Frank’s Buffalo sauce (or Frank’s Hot Sauce or other hot sauce) – plus extra as garnish

S&P

3/4 cup Panko or other bread crumbs

Crumbled blue cheese or Gorgonzola as garnish (optional) or a dollop per serving of blue cheese dressing

Scallions and/or cilantro and/or parsley as garnish (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Cook the pasta & real chicken (if you are using real chicken).  Set aside.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Melt the butter in a stock pan and heat over medium heat until bubbly.  Whisk in the flour.  Whisk constantly until the roux begins to brown – maybe 1-2 minutes.  Slowly whisk in the milk – allowing it to thicken.  Add the Velveeta, hot sauce & real/faux chicken.  Mix.  Add the pasta.  Add S&P to taste.

Prepare a casserole pan with cooking spray or butter.  Place the pasta mix & top with grated cheese & bread crumbs.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is melted & bubbling at the edges & the bread crumbs are beginning to brown.

Serve this bad boy up topped with crumbled blue cheese of some kind or with a bit of blue cheese dressing & some cilantro/scallions & drizzle with even more hot sauce.  Eat until your pants feel tight.  When you are done – head out to the store & by some cheap wine & the largest bag of Doritos available.

Consume those until you have visible chemical burns in your mouth from the toxic Doritos.  Keep drinking through the pain.  Watch The Voice.  Complain out loud to sleeping dogs about how LAME this season is.  Post a few tipsy Facebook comments along those same lines.

Indulge in some ZZZquil.  Fall asleep.

Wake up.  IMPORTANT PART: skip the gym.

Go the donut shop.  Do some of this to yourself.

Before the sugar high wears off – do this to yourself.

Go home eating this shit in the car.  Wipe your hands on your pants.

Weigh yourself & curse the heavens for not fulfilling your weight loss goals.

Vegan Buffalo Mac & Pepper Jack Cheese Cupcakes

All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2013

Follow @celisemccarthy

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To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.

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All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option.  Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out.  It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing.  The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.

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I woke up dizzy & light-headed & (oddly) filled with a dozen ideas for soul food or otherwise southern menu options.  I had all kinds of aspirations involving chicken-frying something & biscuits & gravy & mashed potatoes and mac & cheese.  I am really excited about the chicken-fried recipe but I only got as far as this mac & cheese idea.  I have enough of just these things to survive here for a week.  And I really shouldn’t eat mac & cheese cupcakes every meal for a week or I might develop type-2 Diabetes.

You can opt to make the cupcakes out of this recipe or just stop at the mac & cheese level.  It is a no-bake mac & cheese but I am certain 20 minutes at 375 wouldn’t hurt it.  Here it is right outta the pan – no baking at all.  If you are not baking it or making cupcakes – this mac & cheese comes together in just a little more time than it takes to boil the pasta.

That is a little smoked paprika on there.  Pretty, no?

I used this wacky, large shell pasta for my recipe.  Regular macaroni or other small, shaped pasta would work, too.

Vegan Buffalo Mac & Pepper Jack Cheese Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

1 lb dry pasta – cooked

4 TBS flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp ground pepper

1 pinch cayenne pepper

4 TBS vegan butter

2 celery stalks – diced (plus more for garnish)

3 scallions – diced (plus more for garnish)

1 jalapeno – seeded & diced

3 cups non-dairy milk

1/2 cup Frank’s Red Hot Sauce

4 cups vegan pepper jack cheese (grated)

Crumbled vegan blue cheese as garnish (optional)

Wonton skins (2 per cupcake)

Paprika (as garnish)

Breadcrumbs and/or extra grated cheese to top the cupcakes (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Cook the pasta according to directions.

Heat the oven to 375.

In a bowl – whisk the dry ingredients together: flour, salt, dry mustard, pepper & cayenne.  Set aside.

In a large stock pot, melt the butter & saute the celery, jalapeno & scallions for about 2 minutes.  Add the flour mix & saute over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes.  Add the milk – 1/2 cup at a time – and stir it in until it thickens.  Then add the rest of the milk in the same fashion & in 1/2 cup increments.

Stir in the hot sauce & the pepper jack & heat until melted & combined.

Stir in the cooked pasta.  You can serve it at this point with blue cheese crumbles, celery & scallions as garnish – and maybe a drizzle of more Frank’s sauce – or a brightly colored paprika!

OR –

Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray.  Place two wonton skins in each cup.  Fill them with your mac & cheese.

You might want to add more grated cheese or breadcrumbs here – or not.  I only added breadcrumbs to half to see how they came out.  No big difference.  Bake at 375 for about 12-15 minutes or until bubbly & browning.

Let them rest for about a minute & then serve garnished with blue cheese crumbles, scallions and/or celery.  Maybe sprinkle some paprika on them or drizzle more Frank’s sauce.  Then get a shoe horn & force feed yourself these things like they do a pate goose.