Step up your BBQ this summer and throw a proper Buffa-cue.
Are you drooling yet? We are.
When this platter hits the table, your guests will be speechless. Don’t plan on leftovers because it will all get eaten. Case in point.
There are many reasons why we love this platter, but mainly, it’s the taste and ease of it. You can prep the veggies ahead of time or pay the extra ($) and buy them pre-cut. The marinade and dip are both store-bought combinations with wide variety of brands to choose from.
It will cater to the carb-conscious, small crowd, but there are plenty of pickings for the vegetarians at your table too! This recipe called for enough to feed four very hungry adults on a Friday night and one little 2 year old who was a very adventurous eater. The other three little kids kept to the kids menu.
Cooking for a larger crowd?
Double the brussels and cauliflower and add some more chicken. Two sheet pans full of brussels and cauliflower will be needed and double the prep work, but it will take the same amount of cooking time and same amount of marinade.
Time Saving Hacks:
- buffalo wing sauce
- hot sauce (Frank’s Red Hot, for example)
- blue cheese dressing
- pre-cut veggies (optional)
The Things You Will Need:
- Grill
- Sheet Pan(s)
- Mixing Bowls
- Cutting Board and Knife
- Large serving platter or board
Wondering How to Make this Win Best in Show?
- The Serving Dish. If you don’t have a large rectangular platter, use a large wooden cutting board to assemble the food on. Don’t have one of those either? Get creative! Try something wild. One time I used thin pieces of scrap wood for this brunch grazing table.
- Presentation Is Key. Find a sturdy spot for the dip somewhere in the arrangement, but off centered. Choose a dip bowl that is neutral so it doesn’t clash with the beautiful colors of the food. Arrange foods together and use the celery and carrots to separate the Buffalo Brussels and Buffalo Cauliflower from the Buffalo Chicken.
- Garnish. It’s not optional this time! Use scissors to cut the chives at an angle. Finally, do the chive and blue cheese sprinkle all over the place.
What Did You Serve With This?
- Small Veggie Plate. It seemed only natural to just keep slicing because I had to cut the celery and carrots for the main act anyways. The veggie plate consisted of cherry tomatoes (cut lengthwise), snap peas, English cucumbers (cut on a an angle), baby rainbow carrots (cut lengthwise), raw broccoli florets, and a julienned bell pepper. The dip was simple. Ranch dressing.
- Kids Menu. The kids ate bakery pizza. In Rhode Island, we call this Party Pizza. Served up with a side of deli pepperoni and shredded mozzarella cheese. Whatever was left on the veggie plate at this point was offered to them for their dinner plates.
- Cookies. After dinner, the kids were put to work. Most summer nights, we lean on S’mores for the fun post supper treat, but this time, we went with hardly homemade chocolate chip cookies. You know, the kind you buy as a roll of dough. It was really fun for them to cut the cookie dough, roll it into balls and place the cookie on the sheet. A quick 10-12 minutes later we had warm, gooey cookies that were so, so good! And they were oh so proud of themselves!
Buffa-cue Platter
Ingredients
- 5 Chicken breasts
- 1/2 Pound of brussels sprouts (halved)
- 1 Head of cauliflower (cut into florets)
- 1 Heart of celery (cut into 3 inch stalks)
- 5 Carrots (skinned and cut into sticks)
- 1 Bottle of buffalo wing sauce
- 1/2 c of hot sauce (such as Frank's Red Hot)
- 1 Bottle of blue cheese dressing
- Blue cheese crumbles (4 ounce)
- Chives
- Salt
- 1/2 cup of flour
- Flat bread (optional)
Directions
- Step 1 Heat oven to 400 degrees and fire up the grill. Marinate the chicken breasts in a half bottle of buffalo sauce and 1/4 c hot sauce mixed together (reserve the other 1/4 c for the veggies)
- Step 2 Trim bottom of brussels sprouts, and slice each in half top to bottom. Cut the head of cauliflower down the middle and break the florets off the core with your hands then cut into bite sized florets. Skin carrots and cut into sticks. Cut the celery into 3 inch long stalks. Set carrots and celery aside for the platter.
- Step 3 Coat the brussels and cauliflower in the remaining half bottle of buffalo sauce and another 1/4 cup of hot sauce mixed together. Using a slotted spoon, transfer veggies to the sheet pan, drizzle with a couple tablespoon fulls of excess sauce. Then sprinkle generously with salt and some flour. Roast them in the oven for 30 minutes, shaking the pan about halfway through.
- Step 4 Meanwhile, grill the chicken breasts or have someone else do this part for you! Chicken and veggies should finish around the same time depending on how hot your grill is and how thick your chicken breasts are. Try to time this right.
- Step 5 Pour the blue cheese dressing into a dip bowl and give it a handful of blue cheese crumbles on the top.
- Step 6 Arrange the platter with all the things including the dip bowl and the raw carrots and celery you put aside.
- Step 7 Cut the chives on an angle with scissors. Finish with a generous blue cheese crumble and chive sprinkle all over the platter. Make sure some of those chives fall into that dip bowl, for good measure.
- Step 8 Serve with grilled flat bread (optional).
What Did Your Guests Say?
If you decide to make this, please let me know how it went! Did you tell them it was a hardly homemade Buffa-cue?
Snap a photo of your hardly homemade platter on Instagram and tag me @hardlyhomemade and #hardlyhomemade so I can see it!
