This gorgeous cauliflower salad is great as part of a buffet, but equally good served as a side dish for roast meat or grilled fish. It is originally an Ottolenghi recipe, but I have made it so many times without reference to the book that I hope it has evolved. You may find that you have more dressing than you need, so feel free to save it; it would be lovely with served with fish.
Tasty, healthy and quick for a light lunch or as part of a larger meal
Serves 4 as a side dish.
1 Cauliflower
2tbls Olive Oil
1tsp Paprika
150g bag Baby Spinach
1 punnet Cherry Tomatoes
For the dressing:
200ml olive oil (you may not need it all)
Juice of ½ Lemon
1 clove Garlic
1 heaped tsp Dijon Mustard
½ small bunch Dill
1tsp Capers (optional)
- Preheat the oven to 180C.
- Remove the leaves from the cauliflower and cut into florets. Place in an oven dish, toss in the olive oil and paprika and roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the cauliflower has cooked through but is still crunchy. Cook for another 10-15 minutes if you prefer your cauliflower softer, but stir and cover with foil at this point so it does not burn.
- Meanwhile halve the cherry tomatoes and place in a serving bowl.
- Make the dressing. Put half the oil and all the other ingredients into a bowl, and blitz with a stick blender. Taste and add more oil until you get a flavour you are happy with. The more oil you add, the thicker it should become.
- When the cauliflower has roasted, remove it from the oven. Toss the spinach leaves in the hot cauliflower so that they wilt. Add them to the tomatoes in the salad bowl.
- Pour the dressing over the other ingredients and mix well. Allow to cool so that the dressing is absorbed by the vegetables, then serve.