Roast Cauliflower, Cranberry, Almond & Herb Salad

High-heat roasting makes cauliflower one of the most amazing salad vegetables!

Roasted or caramelised cauliflower is hands down the MOST delicious way to prepare this BOSS of the veggie world! Best part is that it is so easy to do through high heat roasting, air frying, deep frying or even barbecuing.

Cauliflower was made for high heat cooking, like other brassicas - broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage - it transform in flavour becoming sweet & meaty when caramelised and charred, which is perfect for MORE VEG, max flavour cooking!

Let’s focus on Roasting. I’m talking the oven preheated to 220C - 240C.

The cauliflower pieces can be smaller or larger, don’t adjust the temperature, just the cooking time. If your oven is too low in temp, not preheated or overcrowded then you will struggle to get that delicious crust on anything you roast. Think of it just like putting too much in a pan or not having the heat high enough on your pan. It will just stew or steam and overcook before you get the desired caramelisation.

Next important thing is oil and seasoning. You don’t have to overdo it but you need the cauliflower pieces well coated in oil, its a medium to help that caramelisation and stop the vegetable drying out. I find tossing them in the oil, in a bowl, to be the best method to coat smaller items, evenly. Oh, by the way, I use extra virgin olive oil for all my cooking. Let me know in the comments if you want to know more about this.

Season them while tossing with salt and pepper - and any other flavours you may want to add here. Next, onto a tray - lined or unlined with baking paper. There is some benefit to roasting straight onto a clean, unlined tray to assistin the caramelisation through direct contact with the tray - just like a pan. Only trade off will be more washing up of that dirty tray. As long as your oven is well hot, you’ll be fine with a lined tray.

I always roast extra veggies as they hold up pretty well overnight in the fridge and has a lot of uses across so many dishes!

Add roast cauliflower to salads, curries, stir fry’s, pasta dishes, top it with cheese and grill it, use it through soups - either topping them or pureeing the roast cauliflower and onions from his recipe with stock then pimping it up with the cranberries, almonds and herbs also in the recipe, maybe some feta or yoghurt spooned in. Yum, theres a new recipe !

This salad can be made ahead so is perfect for entertaining or ‘bring a plate’ occasions. Serve as a standalone dish or pair with anything from fish, chicken or red meats. I particularly love it served with grilled or seared tuna or za’atar, lemon & honey roast chicken - pictured below and the recipe will be in NEXT WEEKS NEWSLETTER.

Za’atar, lemon & honey roast chicken (in next weeks newsletter)

Cauliflower - you can swap this for any of or a mix of the following - Brussel sprouts, broccoli, thick sliced rounds of zucchini, carrots (baby or large cut chunks of larger carrots), large pieces or rounds of eggplant or pumpkin.

Cranberries - leave out if you aren’t a fan of the sweetness or swap for sultanas, pomegranate or torn fresh dates.

Almonds - nearly any nut can be swapped here or try a seed mix of toasted pepita and sunflower seeds.

Herbs - I’m a big advocate for using what you have to save food wastage so if you have some herbs in the fridge and they aren’t the exact ones listed here, please use them.

Bulking The Salad Out - if you want to make this salad into a more substantial dish, feel free to add a grain like buckwheat, farro, quinoa or brown rice. You can also add a pulse like cooked, tinned lentils, chickpeas, white beans. I also love to seeve this salad over hummus or yoghurt.

Prep / Cooking time

serves 4

Ingredients

1 small head cauliflower, cut into small pieces