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Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Crispy Chickpeas and Lemon-Tahini Dressing

Amanda
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Here’s a nice, vegetable-forward salad with Middle Eastern inspired flavors that just happens to be !SURPRISE! vegan.  I know, I know…I made a recipe without cheese?!  Who am I becoming? (You could totally add some cheese to this.)

Caramelized roasted cauliflower takes center stage in this hearty salad, complemented with arugula, parsley, onions, pine nuts and crispy spiced chickpeas, all drizzled in a glorious lemon-tahini dressing.   I kept seeing the recipe for this salad from Budget Bytes on Pinterest and was so drawn to it that I finally realized I had saved it 5 times in the course of a couple weeks.  Every time I saw it on my feed, I didn’t want to miss out on it because it looked so appetizing so apparently I just kept saving it.  Finally, I pulled the trigger and actually made it!  I used purple and yellow cauliflower, in addition to white, in this recipe because I had never seen it in the stores and was curious how it tasted.  Let’s be real…I mostly bought it for the color!  It tasted just like the standard cauliflower we’re used to, so use whatever you can find. 

One of my favorite side dishes is Caramelized Cauliflower, which is so delicious that it makes it easy to eat a whole head of cauliflower alone.  Try to use a similar approach and get some good caramelization on your cauliflower while roasting for added flavor.

Tahini, a nutty paste made from ground sesame seeds, makes a wonderfully creamy dressing when mixed with a little water and lemon juice.  Garlic and a few spices like cumin and cayenne are really all the dressing needs to come together.It’s so good, universally friendly to all diets and keeps really well at room temperature, making this the perfect recipe for long, leisurely dinners, picnics, or big parties!  Or you can hunker down with a big bowl of this for dinner!

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Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Crispy Chickpeas and Lemon-Tahini Dressing

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  • Author: Amanda
  • Yield: 4 to 6 servings 1x
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Description

A vegetable-forward salad with Middle Eastern inspired flavors that just happens to be vegan.  Caramelized roasted cauliflower takes center stage in this hearty salad, complemented with arugula, parsley, onions, pine nuts and crispy spiced chickpeas, all drizzled in a glorious lemon-tahini dressing.  

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 large heads cauliflower, stemmed and cut into large florets (about 2–1/2 pounds trimmed florets)
  • 1/2 red onion, sliced about 1/4-inch-thick
  • 2 ounces baby arugula
  • 3 green onions, white and green parts thinly sliced on the diagonal
  • 1/3 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
  • 1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
  • Olive oil, as needed

SPICED CRISPY CHICKPEAS:

  • One 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and dried
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • Kosher salt and freshy ground black pepper

LEMON-TAHINI DRESSING:

  • 1/4 cup tahini
  • 1/4 cup water
  • Juice of 1 large lemon
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons honey or brown sugar
  • 1 garlic clove, finely minced and mashed to a paste
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 425°.  Place the cauliflower florets on a large baking sheet and drizzle generously with olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper and toss together to coat.  Spread the cauliflower in an even layer and transfer the pan to the oven.  Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until the cauliflower is beginning to caramelize and brown.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
  2. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°.
  3. Mix the chickpeas with the olive oil, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne, brown sugar, salt and pepper and toss to coat.  Spread over half of a large baking sheet.  Place the red onions on the other half of the sheet and drizzle with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  Roast for 20 to 22 minutes, until the chickpeas are beginning to crisp and the red onions are tender.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.  The chickpeas will crisp up even more as they cool.
  4. Mix all of the dressing ingredients together and whisk to thoroughly combine.
  5. When ready to assemble, mix together the roasted cauliflower, onions, spiced chickpeas, arugula, green onions, parsley, and pine nuts.  Drizzle with enough dressing to lightly coat and serve the remaining dressing on the side.

Notes

Inspiration: Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing on budgetbytes.com

  • Category: Salads, Vegan
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