June – Roasted Cauliflower with Peas and Mint-Pea Yogurt

This is the other salad I served to my book club friends.

Full of herbs and edible flowers, this salad was beautiful. It is meant to be eaten the day it is made, as it didn’t keep well and wasn’t particularly good the following day. The recipe came from another book by Hetty McKinnon, Family. All her books are overflowing with wonderful vegetarian meals for sharing with friends and family. This dish is particularly beautiful with all the herbs and edible flowers used as a garnish. Her recipe was written using quinoa, I substituted brown rice. However, after making it this once, I think it would be even more flavorful with farro or freekeh. It would also give a nice textural element, toothiness (is that a word?) was missing. That’s how I intend to make it next time.

The pea yogurt sauce is a nice touch. Leave it out or use a nut yogurt instead if you are going dairy free or vegan.

The flowers, herbs, and peas came from my garden. The recipe calls for peas but I used a mixture of blanched and slivered snow and snap peas. They came from the garden in Fort Bragg. I supplemented them with some frozen petit pois. You could (as the recipe was written) use all frozen peas.

 

 

Roasted Cauliflower with Peas and Mint-Pea Yogurt (serves 4)

Ingredients: 

• Salad –
  • 1 cauliflower head, cut into large florets
  • Extra-virgin olive oil
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 cup of quinoa or another grain, rinsed
  • 2 cups of vegetable stock or coconut water or water
  • 2 cups of peas
  • 1 cup of microgreens
  • 1/4 cup of mint leaves
  • Garnish of edible flowers
  • salt and pepper
• Mint-Pea Yogurt
  • 1/2 cup frozen peas
  • 1/4 cup mint leaves, roughly chopped
  • 1 cup of Greek yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon of honey or maple syrup

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C)
2. Place the cauliflower florets on a parchment lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for about 25-30 minutes until tender and turning golden. Remove from the oven and season with salt and pepper.
3. Add your grain of choice to a saucepan with the vegetable stock, coconut water, or plain water. Bring it to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to low and cook until done. Remove from the heat and cool for 5-10 minutes before draining. Fluff with a fork and squeeze the lemon over, then drizzle with olive oil.
4. Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil and blanch the peas (including the ones for the sauce) for 1 minute, drain and rinse under cool running water until cold. Set aside.
5. For the mint-pea yogurt sauce – combine the mint, 1/2 cup of the blanched peas, and the yogurt in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add the olive oil, syrup or honey, and season with salt and pepper. Blend again until combined. Pour into a jar and chill.
6. When ready to assemble the salad combine the cauliflower, grain, and peas. Drizzle with some olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with the microgreens and edible flowers.
7. Serve the yogurt sauce on the side.