New Recipe: Crispy Cauliflower & Golden Beet Salad

Every Monday night on Twitter, I join the #FoodieChat community for 2 hours of action packed, food loving, tweeting paradise. If you're a member of the community you know how much fun it is meeting fellow foodies all around the world, so I highly encourage you to check it out every Monday night at 7pm CST.

The other week, I tweeted a picture of a new cauliflower salad recipe I was working on. Well one of my #FoodChat peeps asked if I could share the recipe with her, and since I am all about spreading the love to my fellow foodies, I said yes. Now that the recipe is complete, here is my Crispy Cauliflower & Golden Beet Salad w/ Creamy Lemon Dressing

After watching some Food Network and Cooking Channel a few weeks ago, I realized that I rarely eat cauliflower anymore. So I decided to make a healthy and satisfying salad featuring it, along with one of my favorite winter veggies, the beet. The salad is very easy to make and packs so much flavor and nutrition.

Crispy Cauliflower & Roasted Beet Salad w/ Creamy Lemon Dressing 

Recipe by Bobby Parrish

Serves 4 

Total active cooking time 30 minutes

1 Head of Cauliflower(any Color), cut in large bite size pieces

4 Golden or red beets

¼ Cup golden raisins or currants

1/3 Toasted walnuts

½ tspn red pepper flakes

1 Handful of pickled red onions(recipe follows)

Kosher Salt

Cracked pepper

Extra Virgin Olive Oil(EVOO)

For the dressing:

Zest of one lemon

Juice of half a lemon

1 tspn dijon mustard

1 Tbsp honey

1/3 cup EVOO

2 Tbsp sour cream or greek yogurt

Kosher Salt

Cracked pepper

For the pickled red onions:

1 Red onion sliced radially in thin pieces.

1 cup red wine vinegar

2 Tbsp EVOO

Kosher salt

Cracked pepper

To make onions, combine all ingredients in a bowl, and wait at least 1 hour. Keeps in fridge for 2 weeks.

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Prep the beets by washing , cutting off some of the root end, and put in a shallow roasting vessel. Season with one tablespoon of EVOO, and a splash of water, cover tightly with lid or tin foil, and roast for one hour, or until a knife pierces the beets, but they still have a little resistance to them.  Let cool for 20-60 minutes.

Pre-heat a medium sized pan over medium heat, and add 3 tablespoons of EVOO. Add the cauliflower, cook for 10 minutes or until you have deep brown color on the cauliflower(turn the heat up if you’re not getting color after 5 minutes).  Add the red pepper flakes, toasted walnuts, raisins, and season with kosher salt & pepper. Turn heat off and let cool a little.

To make the dressing, add the zest, juice, mustard, honey to a bowl and whisk. Slowly add the EVOO and whisk until dressing comes together. Add the sour cream or yogurt, season with a little S&P, and whisk until creamy and dreamy.

When the beets are cool enough to handle, peel the skin off using a kitchen or paper towel, and cut into large bite sized pieces. Dress the beets with enough dressing to coat everything well, and do the same with the cauliflower mixture( it’s important to dress separately or the red beets will stain the cauliflower). Mound the cauliflower mixture on your serving plate, mix in the beets, and top with some of the pickled red onions.