For those of you that follow me on Instagram you would have seen our foiled attempts to go camping over Easter. For those of you that don’t, let me recap. I went along to my early yoga class on Saturday while B got our stuff organised, then helped pack up the car and headed down the Tasman Penninsula. We were planning on going to one of the two campsites down there however upon arriving we discovered that both campsites were packed full of people, caravans, generators, washing lines and half-empty beer cartons. Not quite the quiet, secluded camping I had envisaged! We looked around a little in case we could find a little hidden gem away from the masses (we couldn’t) and then decided to count our losses and realise it wasn’t such a great idea to go camping over Easter in one of the busiest areas in the state!
Though we didn’t get to camp, we did do a walk, and I took down my DSLR (which doesn’t usually leave the house!) and took a few photos. I’m trying to branch out a little with my photography and take more photos of things other than just food, so it was a good introduction for me.
This cauliflower salad is something I whipped up for lunch at the in-laws on Good Friday. I love the idea of roasted veggies in a salad, and I wanted a mix of sweet and savoury ingredients to compliment the sweet/savoury profile that the roasted cauliflower takes on.
When I went to the shop to buy the ingredients for the salad, I noticed a whole tray of fresh figs, so I grabbed a few thinking they would go perfectly with the salad. While they worked well, they are not integral to the dish and as they are usually hard to come by here, I would suggest that you could easily swap them out for thinly sliced pear or Apple, pomegranate seeds, or just leave out entirely.
Lastly, I extended my Easter break and headed to Sydney tomorrow to attend a workshop on documentary photography and memory keeping hosted by Lifecaptured Inc late last week. I love this concept and have been more and more interested in story-telling through food photography so I look forward to learning more in this broad area. For those of you that are interested, I plan on writing a recap soon.
- 1 head cauliflower
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp capers
- 3 Tbsp currants
- ⅓ cup olives, halved
- ½ cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley
- 1 cup baby spinach leaves
- 1 fresh fig, sliced
- Chilli flakes, to serve
- Extra parsley, to serve
- Dressing
- 1 Tbsp tahini
- ½ Tbsp honey
- 3 Tbsp lemon juice
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp cumin
- Salt to taste
- Water to thin
- Preheat oven to 190 C || 375 F
- Cut cauliflower into small florets. Add to a bowl with the olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt. Toss to coat.
- Place on a lines tray and bake 30 - 35 minutes, turning at the 20 minute mark.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.
- Tear the spinach and parsley with your hands and scatter over a serving tray. Add the cauliflower, and then the currants, capers,olives and figs across the top.
- Make the dressing by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl and mixing well. Add water a tablespoon at a time to thin until desired consis
- Pour the dressing over the top.
- Sprinkle with more parsley and chilli flakes to serve.
Roasted cauliflower is one of my favorites and what a dream pairing with currants and capers. I actually love the addition of fresh figs, so I’ll have to remember this when fig season rolls around here in a few months!
The story telling through food photography sounds really interesting. Hope to see what you learned in your own story telling food photography post. ;-)
Couldn’t wait for fig season so I made this anyways and used dried figs. Not even necessary, especially with the currants. But it was delicious all the same. Loved it and looking forward to leftovers tomorrow!
So glad you enjoyed it Katie! It’s so easy and makes a great base – I added a little quinoa and some beans to a batch I made the other day to make it a bit heartier for work lunches. Thanks for the feedback :)
Figs and cauliflower? Well, I can imagine how amazing that would taste! I love the flavors and the plating scheme of this dish!!
Whoa, your photos are gorgeous!! I am amazed. I love the mood in them. The salad sounds so delicious!