roasted cauliflower salad with tahini dressing

Welcome to day 10 of our 30-day challenge. Wonder how many salads you’ve all eaten in the last ten days. Well, here’s another one for you. Check out this Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Tahini Dressing.

I happen to love salad. Especially when it’s loaded up with all the hearty goodness like grilled chicken, roasted beets, yummy baby heirloom tomatoes, crumbled blue cheese. And topped off with some delicious homemade dressing. You get the picture.

As much as I enjoy my basic green salad, I never mind switching it up a bit. What I’m offering here is technically considered a salad but it could certainly be enjoyed as a side dish.

• Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
• Chop the cauliflower into small florets.
• Place them on a large baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
• Slice the red onion into 1/4-inch strips- add them to the baking sheet.
• Drizzle the cauliflower and onions with olive oil.
• Season with a pinch or two of salt and pepper.
• Toss the cauliflower and onions until coated in oil, salt, and pepper.

• Roast the cauliflower and onions in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
• Stir and return them to the oven.
• Roast for an additional 15 to 20 minutes.
• The cauliflower should be tender and browned on the edges.
• Remove tray from oven and set aside to cool slightly.

While the cauliflower and onions are roasting, make the lemon tahini dressing. 

While on the subject …I highly recommend using Soom Pure Ground Sesame Tahini for your dressing. They do typically carry it at Whole Foods, but if you have no luck there it’s usually available on Amazon. The flavor is superior and will definitely shine through.

That is actually the only brand of tahini I’ll use when making a batch of my homemade hummus. My family goes crazy over it.

• Add the tahini, water, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, cayenne (if desired) and salt to a blender.
• Blend until smooth, then refrigerate until ready to serve.

Before continuing, I must warn you that if you follow the recipe exactly as written the dressing and chickpeas will have some kick. Quite a bit of heat, actually. 

If you don’t care for that type of spiciness, just decrease the amount of cayenne powder or eliminate it totally. Either way, the outcome will be delicious.

• Drain and rinse the can of chickpeas.
• Add them to a non-stick skillet along with the olive oil.
• Season with smoked paprika, cayenne (if desired) and a pinch of salt & pepper.
• Stir and cook the chickpeas over medium heat for about five minutes.
• They should be sizzling and become slightly crispy.
• Remove the chickpeas from the heat.

When toasting the chickpeas, be sure to use a non-stick skillet or well-seasoned cast iron pan. Otherwise, they most likely will stick to your pan.

Time to assemble your Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Tahini Dressing.

• To build the salad, combine the roasted cauliflower and onions in a bowl with the spiced chickpeas and chopped greens.
• Lightly drizzle the lemon tahini dressing over top, and toss to combine.
• Serve warm or cold with the extra dressing on the side.

When I first discovered this recipe, I thought the flavor and texture combos were great. But the original recipe is featured with parsley as the “greens” component.

Being a green salad lover, I just had to up the game and replace that parsley with a combination of baby spinach and arugula. It was a good decision.

You’ll have quite a bit of the delicious dressing left over.

When serving the salad, offer extra dressing to anyone interested. You’re sure to find a few customers.

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More roasted goodness…