Cascading Kitchen Notes
Take the bits and pieces and make another meal!
If you have some salad remaining after your first meal, put the marinated veggies in some pasta w/ parmesan cheese and a little chicken and you’ve got another meal.
Marinated Cauliflower & Fennel Salad
The Marinade
In a large stainless bowl (for quick cooling)
- ½ cup golden balsamic vinegar (if the head of cauliflower is large use ¾ cup)
Use a sweet vinegar of some kind if you don’t have golden balsamic. It’s the sweet flavor of the vinegar against the salty olives and capers that make this salad so tasty.
- 1.5 tsp sea salt
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 4 cloves minced garlic
Into the marinade stir
- 1 head of fennel-shaved
- 1 purple onion -minced
While those veggies are marinating:
Steam the Cauliflower
- 1 head of cauliflower cut into flowerets; nice bite-size pieces that will marinate well and sit nicely on your fork.
Blanch the cauliflower in boiling water for ONLY 1 min. Retain some tooth.
Drain.
Toss the hot cauliflower over the marinated veggies and stir for about 3 min. to help it cool down. The heat of the cauliflower will take the sharp bite out of the onion.
Toss in:
- 1 cup of chopped olives (kalamata, green or regular black olive in a can)
- 3 Tb capers (optional)
- ½ cup chopped parsley or celery leaves (you could use dill fronds if it’s in season)
- ½ cup fennel fronds from the bulb you’ve already shaved
- 2 sweet peppers if in season (red and green are pretty)-diced
- Add 4 cups of garbanzo beans (optional, leave them out if you're going to serve with Hummus)
Marinate for a least 4 hours. Best if it sits in the fridge overnight.
Serving Suggestion: Spread hummus on the bottom of a wide shallow bowl. Top with the marinated salad and serve.
Lasts for several days.