A nourishing, warm winter salad from Janet

This is a lovely salad at this time of the year, creamy and nourishing with the tahini sauce, fresh and warming with the lemon and chili.

It feels light and cleansing to eat, perfect as we emerge from our deep winter days and want something a little light but still deeply nourishing.
 

Ingredients

1 celeriac

1 cauliflower

1 lemon (unwaxed) and its zest

1 or 2 garlic cloves

Olive oil

Tahini

Capers (handful)

Bunch of Parsley

Walnuts (handful)

Pumpkin seeds (handful)

Chilli flakes

Making this delicious salad

Take off the leaves of the cauliflower and break it up into small florets. Put into a baking dish and add some olive oil, enough to coat, then sprinkle over a little paprika or garam masala.

Mix well so all the cauliflower is coated and bake at 180^oC for 30 minutes or till lightly browned.

Toast the walnuts in the oven at 180^oC for 8 minutes. In a separate dish toast the pumpkin seeds with the chilli flakes till they are lightly coloured. When you take the seeds out, sprinkle a little tamari and mix it in with a spoon so they are all coated. Leave to dry, then break up the walnuts into small pieces once cooled.

Make the dressing: zest the lemon and squeeze the juice out and put into a bowl with three times the amount of olive oil.

Crush the garlic and add a tablespoon of tahini. Whisk together until you have a smooth dressing and season to taste. You can also add a little yoghurt if you like.

Peel the celeriac then grate it coarsely, then put into a bowl and add the dressing - mixing it well.

Drain the capers and roughly chop, adding those with the walnuts, pumpkin seeds and the baked cauliflower.

Chop some fresh parsley and mix that it and add any seasoning needed.

Enjoy on its own as a simple dish, or alongside other salads, with a frittata, burger, baked tofu. It's great as an accompaniment to many dishes.

Cauliflower photo by Jennifer Schmidt on Unsplash