New York Times recipe: this easy cauliflower salad will brighten even the bleakest days

Despite my best intentions, most of the roasted cauliflower I cook doesn’t make it past the sheet pan.

I always start out with a loftier goal, turning those sweet, caramelised florets into soup, or stuffing them into a pita, shawarma style — or, at the very least, putting them on a plate and maybe garnishing with some chopped herbs.

But then I’ll sample one or two, you know, for quality control. Before I know it, I’ve devoured half a sheet pan’s worth standing over the stove, snatching the golden, olive oil-slicked pieces one by one, fingertips burning. For a committed cauliflower admirer, a pan full of hot, roasted florets is just too seductive to resist.

For this recipe, I was determined to turn those lacy-edged pieces into a dish I could share.

The key was to assemble all the other components while the cauliflower was still in the oven. With everything else at the ready when the florets came out, I’d have more of an incentive to exercise restraint — and knowing that I’d put work into the rest of the dish would make it easier to ignore.

I’d had my heart set on a hearty, warm salad, something satisfying enough to give cauliflower a starring role, but light and full of colourful vegetables, with a flavour zesty enough to offset the usual grey bleakness of winter’s depths.

Another good thing about cauliflower is that, once roasted, it becomes gentle enough to work with a multitude of flavours, whether rich and creamy cheeses, yoghurt, salty pickles or sweet dried fruit.

I chose the sweet-and-sour route by soaking golden raisins and slivers of red onion in lime juice for as long as it took the cauliflower to cook — in effect creating an easy quick pickle with a pleasantly chewy texture.

To add flavour while the cauliflower roasted, I tossed the florets with spices, then sprinkled some briny capers and more red onion on to the sheet pan, letting them get crisp and brown. The hardest part of the whole thing was not gobbling them up as they cooled slightly, a necessary step so it wouldn’t wilt the rocket on contact.

It was worth the wait. This vivacious pink and gold salad, with its array of textures and smack of citrus, lit up my winter evening. And I didn’t have to burn my fingers to enjoy it.

Roasted Cauliflower and Rocket Salad

Recipe Melissa Clark

In this hearty, colourful salad, cauliflower florets, slivers of red onion and briny capers are coated with spices and roasted until the florets turn soft and sweet, and the onions and capers get browned and crisp. Everything is tossed with tangy-sweet raisins (or your favourite dried fruit), more red onion that’s been quick-pickled in lime juice, and a green mound of rocket and parsley leaves. It’s a bright, satisfying salad that works as a substantial side dish or a light main course, either rounded out with crusty bread or served on top of a bed of rice, farro or other grains.

Ingredients:

1 large cauliflower (1-1.4kg), cut into 2.5cm florets

4.5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

1 ½ tsp fine sea or table salt, plus more to taste

1 tsp garam masala

¼ tsp ground cayenne

1 large red onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced into half-moons

2 ½ tbsp drained capers

2 tsp cumin seeds

⅓ cup golden raisins (or substitute another dried fruit, such as cranberries, diced apricots or dates)

boiling water, as needed

2 ½ tbsp fresh lime juice

freshly ground black pepper, as needed

120g rocket

1 cup Italian parsley leaves

Preparation:

Step 1 Heat oven to 220C. On a rimmed sheet pan, toss cauliflower with 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, garam masala and cayenne. Spread out the florets and roast for 15 minutes.

Step 2 Put about ⅔ of the sliced red onion, the capers, cumin seeds and a pinch of salt into a small bowl; drizzle with a little olive oil. Add mixture to the cauliflower and toss well. Roast for another 25 to 28 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are browned and tender. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Taste a cauliflower floret and add more salt if needed.

Step 3 While the cauliflower is roasting, place the raisins in a small heatproof bowl (you can use the same bowl you used for the onions) and top with enough boiling water to cover. Let soak until they are soft (up to 15 minutes if your raisins were rock hard to start with). Drain well and return to the bowl.

Step 4 Add remaining onion to the raisins. Toss with 1 tablespoon lime juice and a large pinch of salt.

Step 5 In a small bowl, whisk together remaining lime juice, extra virgin olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt and as much black pepper as you like. Whisk until emulsified, then taste and add more salt if needed.

Step 6 When ready to serve, in a large salad bowl, toss together the rocket, parsley leaves, slightly cooled cauliflower mixture, pickled raisin and red onion mixture, and half of the lime dressing. Toss well, adding more dressing to taste.

Serves 4

Total time: 55 minutes

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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