How to Find Deals on Local Food (Plus Recipes for Cauliflower BBQ Wings, Roasted Sage Potatoes and a Seasonal Mixed Vegetable Salad

So you want to eat local but don’t want to spend a fortune? It’s possible! Especially right now in summer when stores of full of cantaloupes, cauliflower, blueberries, raspberries, corn, peppers, potatoes, carrots…and the list goes on.

This morning on Global Montreal, I did a segment telling you how to do just that – save on local fruits and vegetables at your grocery store.

I also got the host Laura Casella to fall in love with my cauliflower BBQ wings, roasted sage potatoes and a mixed vegetable salad with a red wine-honey vinaigrette. As promise, here are those recipes:

Cauliflower BBQ Wings

• 2 heads of cauliflower, chopped into florets
• 1 cup plain, unsweetened almond milk (or soy or rice or regular milk)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups flour (rice, buckwheat, soy, sorghum, chickpea or regular wheat flour)
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp of paprika (smoked or sweet)
• 1 tsp ground chipotle pepper, optional
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• Up to 2 tbsp hot sauce (Tabasco or Frank’s Red Hot or Sriracha)

1. Line two baking sheets or roasting pans with parchment paper (if you don’t, the paste will be very sticky and you’ll spend your life swearing as you hack through the burnt-on paste.
2. Preheat the oven to 415˚F.
3. Combine the milk, water, flour, cumin, paprika, chipotle, salt and pepper in a large bowl and add the cauliflower florets. It shouldn’t be too runny or the coating won’t stick. Add extra flour or extra water a few teaspoons at a time if needed to make a thin paste.
4. Toss to coat, shaking off excess batter, then spread the vegetables in a single layer on the parchment-lined sheets.
5. Bake for 10 minutes. Flip the cauliflower and bake 10 minutes more.
6. Sprinkle the hot sauce overtop of the cauliflower (or transfer them to a large bowl and toss with the hot sauce, if your hot sauce bottle isn’t sprinkle-able). Toss to coat, then return the cauliflower to the pans.
7. Bake for 10 more minutes then remove the trays from the oven.
8. Eat!

Roasted Sage Potatoes

Since you already have the oven on for the cauliflower, might as well roast these at the same time! They’re great as leftovers, when the potatoes become creamier. Look for local medium-sized white ones with skin that’s almost peeling. That’s a sign that they’re fresh.

• 2 lbs white potatoes, cut into 1 1/2-inch wedges
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 tbsp ground, dried sage
• 2 tsp olive oil

1. Toss all the ingredients in a large bowl and spread the potatoes on a baking sheet (no parchment needed, as these won’t stick as badly as the cauliflower – you also want them to brown on the bottom, which they won’t do with parchment).
2. Bake in a 415˚F oven for 10 minutes (just like the cauliflower). Turn them so they brown on another side and bake for 10 minutes more.
3. Turn them again and bake for a final 10 minutes.
4. Let cool a little and add a squeeze of lemon if desired.

 

Mixed Seasonal Vegetable Salad with Red Wine-Honey Vinaigrette

If I buy organic zucchini, I leave the skins on for added colour, but if I use conventional zucchini, I peel them to avoid the pesticides. Same for the carrots.

2 cobs of fresh corn
2 zucchini, sliced into noodles using a vegetable peeler, or julienned
2 carrots, sliced into noodles or strips using a vegetable peeler, or julienned
1/2 cup cauliflower, diced (I dice the stems and the smaller pieces of the cauliflower that I used above for the wings)
1 green pepper, diced
1 cup strawberries, chopped
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup almonds, pecans, hazelnuts or sunflower seeds, toasted

Dressing:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp honey, or to taste
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup green onion, diced
2 tbsp olive oil

1. Remove the husks from the corn and place one vertically on a cutting board or in a shallow bowl. Use a knife to cut the kernels from the bottom half of the cob. Flip the cob over and do the same with the top half. This way, the kernels won’t go flying all over your kitchen counter and floor!
2. Combine with the remaining salad ingredients except the vinaigrette in a large bowl.
3. To make the vinaigrette, combine all the ingredients except the olive oil in a deep bowl or sealable jar. Whisk or shake the ingredients to blend, then slow whisk in the olive oil, or shake to emulsify. Add more honey, salt, vinegar or olive oil to taste.
4. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss to combine.