Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing

I'm in the midst of a love affair with cauliflower. It's my first choice on the party veggie tray and its emergence as a main dish has got me intrigued. Roasting it adds yet another dynamic to this interesting vegetable and it pairs well with any protein if you'd prefer it as a side.

For those who set it aside and favour other more colourful vegetables, don't. Cauliflower's pretty competitive as far as vitamins and nutrients containing 73% of your daily recommended intake of vitamin C and almost 20% of vitamin K in a cup of the cooked variety (http://www.whfoods.com). It also peaks in spring and fall, so now is the time to eat it. Finally, cauliflower comes in 4 colours: orange, yellow, purple and green. Who doesn't love experimenting with a little colour!

From: https://www.budgetbytes.com/
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

Salad

• 1 head cauliflower
• 1/2 red onion
• 2 T olive oil
• 1/2 bunch Italian parsley
• salt and pepper to taste

Dressing

• 1/3 cup tahini
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 t cumin
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
• 1/4 t salt

Chickpeas

• 2 cups cooked chickpeas
• 2 T olive oil
• 1/2 t paprika
• 1/4 t garlic powder
• 1/8 t cayenne pepper
• salt to taste

Method

Preheat the oven to 450F. Prepare the cauliflower by washing and cutting up the head into bite-size pieces. Slice the red onion into wedges, about a centimetre thick. Toss both into a bowl, add the oil, some salt and pepper and mix well. Spread the veggies onto a baking sheet and place in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat, toss and flip the roasted veggies and return them to the oven for another 10 minutes.

While the veggies are roasting, combine all the dressing ingredients into a blender and emulsify. Next prepare the chickpeas by heating the olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Add the spices, combining them with the oil and finally include the chickpeas. Brown the chickpeas for about 10 minutes, or until the chickpeas become golden-brown.