Cauliflower & Walnut Salad with a Lemon-Poppy Seed Dressing

You know, I love cauliflower but have rarely (if ever) blogged with it. I usually just like to throw it into my macaroni and cheese with some zucchini and I always have some in my curries but nothing to really blog about...but I got it in my head to make a cauliflower salad and came up with this.

Lightly steamed just tender cauliflower, sweet carrot and crisp red onion is marinated in a lemon-poppy seed dressing then topped with crunchy toasted walnuts. It's a lovely, unique salad that went really well with a couple of slices of fresh from the oven garlic bread :-)

Cauliflower and Walnut Salad with a Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing

~serves 2 as a large main salad~

• 300g / 3 cups cauliflower florets

• 1 large carrot, grated

• ½ red onion, sliced

• ¼ cup walnuts

Dressing:

• 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

• ½ tsp poppy seeds

• ¼ tsp salt

• ¼ tsp sugar

• freshly ground black pepper

Make sure the florets are of a fairly small size then steam until just tender. This should take no longer than 10 minutes, just fork test them now and again.

Meanwhile measure the olive oil in a small bowl. Slowly add the lemon juice whisking all the while. Whisk in the salt, sugar, poppy seeds and a few grinds of pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning if need be, because, hey, we're all different!

Tip the warm freshly steamed cauliflower into a large bowl and pour over the dressing. Mix gently using a rubber spatula until the cauliflower is well coated. Add the red onion and carrot and mix well. Cover with cling film and refrigerate to allow the salad to marinate and cool.

While the salad is chilling preheat the oven to 180C / 350F and place the whole walnuts on baking sheet with sides. Toast for about 7 minutes or until lightly golden and very fragrant giving the pan a shake now and again. Remove and roughly chop - not too fine. Leave to cool.

Once the salad is chilled dish up onto 2 plates and top with the toasted walnuts. 

♥

Nutritional Information: based on 1 serving. 

Calories: 420

Protein: 6.2g

Fibre: 7.1g

Fat: 38.1g

Sat Fat: 5g

Carbs: 21g

Sugar: 8.9g

Sodium: 383mg

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♥