Cool salad for a hot summer day.
Life in a small town has really been nice. We moved to Round Top five years ago and I know some wonder what is there to do in a town of 87. Well there is mahjong twice a week; once at local library in the Rummel Haus (built in 1872), once at Busted Oak Cellars and sometimes a third time at our son and daughter-in-laws brewery (Round Top Brewing). There’s coffee shop with the ladies on Thursday mornings, RT Lunch Bunch, Sister Squad (out to lunch), and Herb Society of America. Throwing tea parties (Round Top Tea Time) is also something I like to host. We have the Fall and Spring Antique shows and a Winter and Summer one as well. Last year was our first Round Top Film Festival. Can’t forget the wine walk, art walks, chili cook-off and a lot of fundraisers.
There’s still time to jump in the pool to cool off before deciding what to do for dinner. I don’t really jump in but it’s a nice place to do some “cool” exercises.
When the temperatures start to get above 90° here in Texas I start looking for recipes that are easy and this salad is not only easy but beautiful. Papa G is always eager to throw something on the grill and I usually come up with the “extras”.
On a recent trip to Trader Joe’s (we go there anytime we are are in Houston/Austin or as I say “THE BIG CITY”) I found this rainbow cauliflower. I knew it would make a beautiful salad and it did. I found a raw cauliflower salad recipe online but I prefer cauliflower blanched or cooked, so I made a few changes. The colors became brighter after blanching for a few minutes and after adding the other ingredients like some chopped purple cabbage, celery, orzo pasta, pistachios and some edamame it became one big beautiful salad. Looking for a nice salad to take to a potluck? Give this one a try.
BLAST FROM THE PAST: This recipe for Parmesan Bacon Wraps is one of my all time favorites. I use to make a few hundred of these for parties and freeze them until I was ready to serve. When ready to serve these little cheesy bacon crckers, just pop in the oven for about 5 minutes and they are ready to serve.
Cauliflower found at Trader Joe’s.
I blanched the cauliflower in the same water I used to cook the orzo and then I used it again to blanch the edamame.
Everything all chopped up and ready to be dressed.
Doesn’t that look delicious.
Rainbow Cauliflower Salad
Ingredients
- 1 bag of rainbow cauliflower see note below
- 3/4 c. orzo pasta
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1 c. chopped purple cabbage
- 5-6 green onions thinly sliced
- 3 stalks celery sliced thin
- 1/3 c. chopped pistachios or almonds
- 1 c. shelled edamame
- 5-6 pitted dates chopped (cranberries or golden raisins)
- 1/2 c. flat leaf parsley.
- DRESSING:
- 1/4 c. olive oil
- 1/8 c. white balsamic vinegar or lemon/lime juice
- 1 Tbsp. honey
- 3 basil leaves thinly sliced
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Instructions
- For the dressing, put the white balsamic vinegar in small bowl, drizzle in honey and olive oil and whisk until it has emulsified. Add in the garlic powder and basil leaves. Refrigerate until other ingredients are ready.
- Cook the orzo until al dente (about 10 minutes) drain and set aside. In a pot of boiling water (I used the orzo water) blanch the cauliflower and edamame (separately) for 2-3 minutes, drain and put in ice water bath to chill for a few. minutes. Drain well in colander.
- In a large bowl add the cauliflower, edamame, purple cabbage, dates, nuts celery and cooled orzo. I get these separate until ready to mix. Sprinkle bowl with salt and pepper. You may need to add more salt.
- Drizzle bowl of vegetables with the dresing and sprinkle with parsley. Toss until evenly coated. Chill until ready to serve.
Recipe Notes
If you cannot find the rainbow cauliflower (I bought mine at Trader Joes) use white or whatever color you can find. Pinenuts or almonds would be a good substitute for the pistachios and golden raisins could sub for the cranberries. I used some chopped dates because that was what I had on handl)
Bon Appetit!
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