Xing Eats

During our trip to London, I found myself eating a lot more Middle Eastern cuisine, and in particular, there were a lot of cauliflower salads. I had always enjoyed cauliflower, but it wasn’t a regular part of my cooking rotation.

Since coming back, I’ve tried it in all sorts of things, and really enjoy cooking with it now. I’ve found the secret is to oven roast the cauliflower, which preserves a lot more of the innate cauliflower flavor. Previously, I would boil/blanche the cauliflower, and that didn’t retain as much flavor.

This salad uses some classical Middle Eastern ingredients (mainly tahini) but really it’s just a meaty, well-flavored, rich salad to enjoy as a main. The shrimp is completely optional, and I make the salad without quite often (although I’ll usually add in 2 diced hard boiled eggs as a substitute). All of the main components (the roasted cauliflower, the salad portion, and the optional shrimp) can be made in advance and refrigerated.

Ingredients

• Cauliflower, 16 oz. I just buy the cauliflower florets.
• Persian Mini Cucumbers, 4.
• Red Pepper, half.
• Fresh Dill.
• Fresh Mint.
• Tahini, to taste.
• Mayo, to taste.
• A lemon-based vinaigrette, to taste. I use Kewpie Zesty Yuzu & Kosho Dressing.
• Olive Oil, 2 tbsp.
• Salt and Pepper.
• (Optional) Shrimp, 1 pound. I use Argentine red shrimp because it tastes the best, but realistically any shrimp would work here. A tip with shrimp generally is to try to get it as dry as possible before cooking. I usually set it out on some paper towels for a few hours before cooking.

Directions

• Roast the cauliflower. I take the bigger floret pieces and I break them down with my hands. I have spray for my olive oil, but you can also toss them in olive oil. Be generous with the olive oil – this really lets the cauliflower roast properly. Add salt prior to roasting. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for roughly 20 minutes, or until you see some charring happening on the floret edges.
• Cook the shrimp. Thaw the shrimp and get them as dry as possible. Peel shells and de-vein if necessary. You may need to add some salt to the shrimp, depending on the raw ingredient. The Argentine red shrimp I get from Safeway is already salty, so I never add any additional seasoning. Also, I like adding some black pepper to the raw shrimp prior to cooking. Fry up the shrimp in olive oil on medium high heat. I try to keep the shrimp in the pan for no longer than 1 minute. Remove the shrimp.
• Prepare the salad ingredients. Dice the cucumber and red pepper. Finely chop the fresh dill, and coarsely chop the fresh mint. Mix in a salad bowl. Add the lemon vinaigrette, tahini, mayo, salt, and pepper. Stir.
• Add in the cauliflower and shrimp (if the shrimp is really big, I will cut them in half or thirds). Stir and enjoy!

Nutrition Information

• ~1200 calories
• ~114 grams of protein
• ~66 grams of fat