Cauliflower feel good salad

I like to start my week with a good salad. After a weekend of giving in to my less healthy food cravings, it gives me such a nice good conscience. It has to be tasty though, as there is nothing more uninspiring and tiresome than a bland salad. This cauliflower feel good salad is packed with taste as well as healthy stuff. It has crispiness, softness, sweetness, bite and crunch all in one. Exactly what a good salad should have if you ask me.

I probably make this salad once or twice a month. Not only because of its great taste, but because it is so easy to make, and it works well on its own as well as a side to a nice piece of fish or meat.

Bringing cauliflower back to glory!

Best of all it’s a wonderful way of including cauliflower in you salad. Cauliflower has become one of my favorite veggies in recent years, and I continue to enjoy exploring new ways of using and preparing it. Maybe it’s me trying to redeem cauliflower after a childhood of cauliflower massacres. Sometimes I am still haunted by the overcooked, mushy cauliflower that left the house smelling of cabbage for days when I was a kid. (Sorry mom.) 

Certainly, this salad is a far cry from that, I promise. And maybe like me, it will make you fall in love with cauliflower again. I would say it’s definitely worth a try.

Roasted cauliflower salad with microgreens, red onions, almonds and cilantro (serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side)

Ingredients

1 cauliflower

Canola (rapeseed) oil

2 large handfuls microgreens (I prefer pea shoots or watercress, but arugula or baby spinach leaves also work)

1 small red onion, as finely sliced as you possibly can

1 bunch cilantro

1 handful almonds

Lemon or lime infused olive oil, or olive oil and juice of 1/2 a lime or small lemon

Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Start by removing the leaves and stem of the cauliflower. Then break up and divide the cauliflower into bitesize and smaller pieces. Heat up a deep frying pan (a sauté pan or wok would be perfect) at high heat with 3-4 tbsp canola oil.

2. Once the oil is warm, throw in all the cauliflower and turn down the heat a bit. Stir the cauliflower well while it fries to prevent it from burning. Let it brown slightly, but not too much. Fry for about 10 minutes and season with salt and pepper. The cauliflower should not get mushy all way through but still have some bite, so it’s a good idea to check along the way. When it’s done, transfer the cauliflower to a bowl or dish, and let it rest for a bit, while you prepare the rest of the salad.

3. Wash the microgreens well and then get rid of excess water by using a colander. Put them in a large serving dish or bowl.

4. Slice the onions very thinly, chop the almonds and the cilantro, and add it all to the microgreens and toss. Then add the roasted cauliflower and toss well again. Finish off with a generous drizzle of lemon or lime infused oil (or olive oil and lemon/lime juice) and a couple of churns of freshly ground black pepper.

Serve your cauliflower feel good salad on its own or maybe with a piece of fried or baked salmon, or your favorite piece of meat. Or, if you’re not watching your carbs, some good fresh bread or baguette also works really nicely.

Enjoy!

Want to stay on the good-for-you salad path for a couple of more days? Here are some other really good and super tasty options:

Low-carb fajita beef salad – packed with wonderful Mexican tastes:

Burrata and grilled butternut squash salad with crispy Prosciutto or Parma ham: