PHOODIE’S CAULIFLOWER SALAD WITH PINE NUTS, GREEN BEANS + TAHINI YOGHURT DRESSING 24
July 25, 2013
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I HONESTLY think this is one of the most DELICIOUS recipes that I have ever written. I promise, swear, cross my heart, mean it. My sister is one of those annoying people who GENUINELY prefers eating vegetables instead of brownies and whilst I am definitely NOT of the same breed, in this case, I would choose this over a dessert ANY DAY. Each component plays a part in making this the PERFECT dish so if you want to achieve TOP RESULTS do not mess with it. Hear me!?!? Kidding. Well not about the components making it perfect but about threatening you not to mess with it. You can mess with it if you like, but don’t blame me when what you create doesn’t make you want to howl in the night from culinary pleasureus maximus. Or whatever.
This recipe has a Middle-Eastern thang going on with it. Thems me roots so that’s obviously what comes naturally to me when I write recipes. I’m not sure why I am now writing sentences in a foreign and nonsensical manner, so on to the ingredients and recipe, methinks.
INGREDIENTS
To make a large salad that would serve 4 for lunch (Regular readers will know that this will vary depending on your appetites, we are big eaters!)
2 heads of cauliflower
1 cup toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup green beans (or one large handful from the grocer)
1 red onion
1 cup currants
1/2 bunch dill
Dressing
200 grams natural full fat yoghurt
1 teaspoon tahini
1 lemon, juice only
1 teaspoon sumac
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
METHOD
1) Toast pine nuts on a baking paper lined tray at 180 deg cel for abouttttt4 mins – WATCH LIKE A HAWK THESE WILL BURN IN A SECOND! Remove from oven and set aside.
2) Break down your heads of cauli into small golf ball (or smaller) sized florets. Lay onto a baking paper lined tray, spread one layer thick, and drizzle with olive oil. Cook until tender and golden in a 180 deg cel oven. This may take 45 mins – 1 hr or less – WATCH LIKE A HAWK.
3) Top and tail green beans and then place in a saucepan NOT on the stove top. Boil the kettle, pour boiling water over the beans, count to 30 and drain. Set aside. (You just want to blanch them, they must remain green and crunchy!)
4) Finely slice the red onion and place into a bowl with 3/4 of the pine nuts (set aside others to be used as garnish), currants and dill. Mix well.
5) In another bowl whisk together all of the ‘Dressing’ ingredients and set aside.
6) Add cauliflower and beans to bowl with onion and mix well.
7) Transfer to serving platter, drizzle with generous amount of dressing (serve remainder on the side) and top with reserved pine nuts.
ENJOY!
24 comments
A great looking salad. Love the nuttiness of roasted cauliflower, especially combined with toasted pinenuts.
Can you prepare this the night before and keep the dressing separate or does it need to be served warm?
Hi there! I definitely prefer to eat it warm and also, when refrigerated the cauliflower becomes slightly soggy…not bad but like roast veges on day 2…. That said, I always eat my leftovers the next day and they are delicious.
Thanks Helen! :)
So I made this for lunch today and it was amazeballs. So tasty, even my husband who turns his nose up at anything with cauliflower in it loved it. Thank you for a wonderful recipe.
Your comment has made my day! Am SO please everyone loved it! :) Phoodie
Phoodie this looks divine! One question. I can’t have dairy, could coconut cream work instead? Thanx
Thanks!!! :) I don’t think coconut cream would work well the this combo of flavours…. I do, however, think olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper would work! You could try that!? :)
Absolutely delicious! Even my 4 year old was licking the plate afterwards. Excellent recipe, Phoodie.
I am SO SO SO pleased you all enjoyed it!! And your 4 yo?! That’s AWESOME! :) Phoodie
True story Phoodie – I have the world’s weirdest-eating-habits’ husband who has absolutely no rhyme or reason to his odd eating preferences but he is incredibly fussy and I was pretty keen to keep this little number a secret until all served, fearing he would find the sumac or the tahini or see me roasting the cauliflower and create a false mind aversion before even tasting. This said, I decided to roast the cauliflower before he got home, (I have never roasted cauliflower before), I also decided that my cauliflower was enormous and I would just roast half as it was only the two of us eating it. I had a sneaky little taste as I pulled it out of the oven and thought, ‘yum’, walked away and it hit me how incredibly bloody tasty it was, hence, had a few more trips back to the tray for some more more ‘tastings’. Amazing! How have I not ever roasted cauliflower before! My secret was not to be! As hubby walked in from work, I shoved the tray in front of him and insisted he try some! Whole tray GONE!! I promise!! Anyhooo, I got to roasting the other half, had to slightly mess with your recipe because I couldn’t find sumac in my little country town and then had to mess with even more because I discovered that my fruit bowl which ALWAYS has lemons (even if they are sometimes a little shrivelled) didn’t have lemons (we’ll blame it on the gin punch question I put to you last week!!!!). So I played around with the dressing – checking for vinegar or lime as best substitute and went with lime plus some zest to cater for the sumac omission – still incredible, INCREDIBLE! Served with some yummy lamb cutlets and roast potatoes (I think you get put in jail overnight out here if you serve lamb without potatoes!!), it was truly fan-bloody-tastic! Thank you to TAN (above) for the hubby comment as it had a lasting impression on me that maybe my husband would give it a crack! I am now debating whether to email my friends the link and share my excitement immediately or show up to the next event and wow the socks off the crowd with my ROASTED (still can’t believe how amazing the humble cauli can be when roasted!) cauliflower salad!! It’s school holidays so I have a couple of weeks off – look out oven! I am going to be trying some pretty weird things to roast in you in the coming days just in case I find another little goldmine! Thanks Phoodie!
LOVE your stories! Your enthusiasm! AND THE FACT THAT HUBBY WENT MAD FOR IT!!! Thanks so much for your never-ending support! :) Phoodie ps am trying like mad to get my passionfruit slice story up ASAP to make up for my silence this week while on holiday.
Hey Phoodie! Just thought I’d let you know I made a half quantity of this today for lunch with the intention of having the rest for dinner but by the time dinner rolled around my parents had eaten the rest! My dad, who usually turns his nose up at anything I cook, absolutely loved it, and my mama said it was absolutely delicious! Thanks for such an awesome recipe Phoodie, will definitely be making this one again :) xx
Ah! AWESEOME! Love this! Thanks so much for writing to me. I so agree with you, this recipe rocks and is loved by all!! Def goes onto the list of top 5 on the blog I think! :)
I made this last night and it was spectacular. I am so excited I have left overs today. I had to make sure we didn’t eat the lot so we could let it infuse overnight. Thanks for your flavour combinations. I adore cauliflower and am always looking for new ways to eat it..
SO pleased to hear you loved it! It is one of my absolute faces from the blog! :)
So phoodie. I tried this with a few alterations. I know you dont approve but desperate times and all that. Turns out your amazing and that dressing is incredible. I have kept trying with all different combinations. Last night i had pumpkin and apple in it. It is still to this day the best. Of all the things. Thankyou. You are incredible
Am so pleased!!!!!!!! Thanks for your kind words!
I recently received a cauliflower and rice salad as a side dish and have been scouring the net trying to find a recipe that might best replicate it. Was pleased to find this one. I love cauliflower and have eaten it many ways however surprisingly never oven roasted.
Yum, Yum, Yum! And like Penny’s hubby (above), I could cheerfully eat the whole tray of cauli without the other ingredients.
This recipe has quickly become a once a week staple in our household. Thankyou.
Such a lovely comment – so pleased to hear! Thank you!
This recipe is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!!!
I really did not expect it to taste as good as it did!!!
Really looking forward to eating the leftovers tomorrow :))))
Thank you Phoodie!
So good to hear!!
One of the best salads of ALL time!! Very easy! Do ahead! Ticks all the boxes!! Thank you so much for this recipe!!
Thank you so so much!!!! Phoodie
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