Roasted Cauliflower and Hazelnut Salad

This salad is a quintessential Ottolenghi (and Tamimi) recipe with beaucoup textures, color, and flavor for days. It’s deep yet bright; it’s nourishing yet light. Quick enough for every day, but special enough to impress. As a mega bonus, you eat this side at room temperature which makes it great for taking to a potluck, picnic or frees up warming space for your other dishes.

Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi created this masterpiece and called it a salad. I guess it depends on your definition of a salad, but I wouldn’t treat this dish as a salad course. It will shine next to and enhance any protein during your main course.

I only made the tiniest of changes and gave you more detail instruction than the original recipe gave.

If you aren’t familiar with Ottolenghi yet, I hope you give this recipe a try so you can see why I have an obsession with him.

Ingredients
2 heads cauliflower (about 3 pounds)
10 Tbl olive oil (divided)
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 large pomegranate
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground allspice
1 Tbl maple syrup
2 Tbl sherry vinegar
2/3 c hazelnuts
Several stems of cilantro (we’ll need 2/3 c)
1 large stalk of celery

Directions
Preheat oven to 425.

Wash cauliflower and remove outer leaves. Take a knife and cut off the florets where they meet the main stem. For the biggest of florets, cut them lengthways in three. You’ll want them to be about 2-3 bite-sized pieces which will shrink to bite size during cooking.

Add them to a sheet pan, push the florets together, drizzle them with 6 Tbl olive oil, and hold your hand high, sprinkle it with salt and pepper. This will help to evenly distribute the seasoning. Use your hands to mix the cauliflower well and spread them out. If you think the pan is crowded, it is. Put some of the florets on a second pan. Crowded vegetables will mean you’re semi-steaming them which is not what we want.

Pop those suckers in the oven for about 45 minutes. After about 25 minutes, flip the florets over and return them to the oven. Keep a close eye on them because yours might take less time if your oven is running hotter than mine or you’re starting with smaller or warmer florets. When they are deep brown in places, remove them from the oven.

Wash your pomegranate and peel it. Check out the post for Fennel, Satsuma, ad Pomegranate Salad for tips on peeling a pomegranate.

Add cinnamon and allspice to a large bowl. Give it a quick mix. Add 4 Tbl (1/4 c) of olive oil to the bowl, maple syrup and vinegar. Stir them together. Taste it. Are you able to identify the different components and see how they play together? Think about what other food this dressing would compliment. Do not add salt at this stage because the cauliflower is already salted. Add the cauliflower to the dressing and mix it well. Let it sit. The cauliflower will absorb it after a few minutes.

After the cauliflower is removed from the oven, reduce the oven to 350 degrees. Place the hazelnuts on a sheet pan and put the pan in the oven for about 17 minutes. They should be fragrant with a crisp bite.

Finely chop the cilantro (leaves and stems) to get a loosely packed 2/3 c. Add it to the bowl. Wash the celery stalk well and slice it long ways into ¼” strips. Add the celery and pomegranate seeds to the bowl. Rough chop the hazelnuts if you like (I leave them whole) and add that to the bowl.

Mix the contents in the bowl evenly. Taste it. Add salt if needed (depends on how much salt was left on the bottom of the sheet pan). Eat it at room temperature.

Notes
You can make this dish a day or two ahead of time, but make sure you bring it up to room temperature before eating.

I often say nuts are pretty interchangeable. And I fully support that most of the time, but please only substitute nuts if you must in this recipe. Hazelnuts have distinct flavor profile that pairs wonderfully with the other flavors in this dish. So go ahead and put those bad boys on your grocery list, if you can’t find them at the store you’re at, then substitute.

Do not start with frozen cauliflower. It will turn to mush. Frozen vegetables are a great starting point for some dishes – this is not one of them.

I usually roast cauliflower at 475 degrees because I find it gets the deep brown while retaining a firmer bite. The original recipe calls for it at 425 which is the degree I timed. The original has it for a far less cooking time so there’s a chance it should be at a higher cooking temperature than the 425.

I often eliminate sugar from recipes. For whatever reason, this dish is far better with the maple syrup in it so live a little and leave it in.

If you don’t have allspice, you can sub in cloves (reduce the amount because cloves is a stronger spice), coriander (for this recipe but not a universal substitution), or nutmeg.