I get so hung-up on saying something before posting a recipe that I have 75 drafts of posts "ready to go" but I haven't gotten around to writing anything meaningful/witty/relevant at the top. I can't really explain why I feel like I ought to have a decent block of text ahead of a recipe... I subscribe to an awful lot of food blogs, but there are only a handful of bloggers whose writing I actually bother to read. I'm happy to read relevant details about the food I am considering making; I'm reading the blog for the food recipes, not the blogger's life stories (except Smitten Kitchen and Joy the Baker, obviously). You're probably here with similar motivations, right? This is a food blog.
So, about this roasted cauliflower, feta, and orzo salad from an Ideas Post way back in *gasp* May. I've heard all kinds of effusive reviews about Chrissy Teigen's first cookbook, Cravings. This salad didn't blow me away as some stupendous salad masterpiece, but it was quite nice and I'd certainly eat it again. Caleb didn't love it, but that's because he wanted to eat the components separately. If you find yourself with some cauliflower, orzo, feta, arugula, and dried cherries, you should certainly consider making this. Some grilled flank steak would go quite nicely with this if you want to add some meat (I added some black forest ham to the one in the picture; ham wasn't the best choice for addition, but it worked okay).
Barely adapted from Cravings
Ingredients
Roasted Cauliflower and Orzo
- 1 small head cauliflower broken into florets (about 5 cups)
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 4 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper about 6-10 twists
- 1 cup orzo pasta
Lemony-Dijon Dressing and Salad
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup thinly sliced red onion
- 1 cup freshly-crumbled feta cheese*
- ⅔ cup dried cherries preferably sour Montmorency cherries
- 4 cups baby spinach or arugula
Instructions
Cauliflower and Orzo
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Prep the cauliflower florets and mince the garlic. Toss the cauliflower florets together with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, the garlic, salt, and cracked pepper. Spread the florets on a rimmed baking sheet and roast until the edges are charred, about 20 to 25 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, in a pot of salted boiling water, cook the orzo according to the package directions, but for 1 or 2 minutes less than called for (so it’s just a little underdone). Drain in a colander, rinse under cold water, drain well, and toss with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil right in the colander.
Salad and Lemony-Dijon Dressing
- In a big bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, honey, mustard, salt, and pepper. Add the cooked orzo, roasted cauliflower, onion, feta, and cherries and toss until coated with the dressing. Throw the spinach on top and toss one more time. Taste, and add more salt if you’d like.
