Esquites Style Cauliflower
Tender, flavorful, and a lively addition to the dinner table.
you're making mealtime meaningful.
Mexican street corn is somewhat of a legendary dish these days. The grilled flavor of the corn goes perfectly with a mildly spicy cream sauce and crumbled queso fresco cheese. But, you can also apply this same treatment to other vegetables. This combination of flavors is nicely suited to cauliflower, one of the hardest vegetables to really make into a tasty dish. With this recipe you won’t have any bland cauliflower to contend with at the table.
To begin with cut your cauliflower into small florets. They don’t have to be tiny because they will shrink a bit in the hot oven.
Toss them with olive oil and mixture of spices that includes paprika, chili powder, onion powder, and garlic powder. The potent flavoring is the ideal foil for this cruciferous vegetable. After baking in the oven in this spice mix the florets become toasted and develop a really nice flavor.
The sauce for this dish is blend of mayonnaise (a traditional equites ingredient), sour cream, and chili powder. When it’s all mixed up with some lime juice it has a great drizzling texture.
Pour it over the cauliflower and then garnish with the cheese and some freshly chopped parsley for a taste of Mexico street food at your dinner table. This makes an excellent side dish for taco night, for lemon chicken, or for steak. The options are wide open with this tender esquites style cauliflower.
Esquites Cauliflower
Yield(s): Serves 4
15m prep time
40m cook time
252 calories
Diet: Gluten-Free, Vegetarian
you're making mealtime meaningful.
For the cauliflower:
- 1 large head fresh cauliflower cut into florets
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (or to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
For the sauce and garnish:
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- juice of 1 lime
- 1/3 cup crumbled queso fresco cheese
- 2 teaspoons freshly chopped parsley
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 375˚F. Toss cauliflower with olive oil. In a small bowl combine salt, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder. Sprinkle over cauliflower and toss to coat. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until tender and beginning to brown.
- While cauliflower is baking combine all sauce mayonnaise, sour cream, chili powder, cumin, garlic, salt, pepper, and lime juice in a bowl. Mix well. When cauliflower is out of oven drizzle with sauce and top with crumbled queso fresco and parsley.
Recipe adapted from Texas Granola Girl.