As you likely know by now, I love to cook, and it's a great way for my son and I to spend some quality time together as he's becoming a chef in his own right! It's also an opportunity for me to try out new recipes and flavor combinations, and lately, to experiment with raw food in a whole new way.I recently purchased the cookbook called Living Raw Food by Sarma Melngailis, owner of Pure Food and Wine and One Lucky Duck in NYC. In it I found a recipe for cauliflower tabouleh that was out of this world! It was everything you would expect from a raw recipe - fresh, zesty, flavorful and pretty to look at as well!
To make it you will need:6 cups chopped cauliflower florets (1 large or 2 medium heads)
3 cups cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
3 cups parsley, chopped
3 cups tomato, seeded and diced
1/3 cup scallions (white part and 3" of green from one bunch)
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 TBSP sea salt (I would use a little less)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Finely chop the cauliflower in a food processor and then, in a (very) large, mixing bowl, toss it with all of the remaining ingredients. It goes a long way!
The other recipe I made was a tahini dressing. I happen to love tahini, especially on diced tomatoes, cucumbers and onions, but this time I served it as a dressing to drizzle over roasted leeks, sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes) and baby portobello mushrooms. It has a thick but silky texture and an earthy, nutty flavor that complimented this roasted dish beautifully.
You will need:
1 cup tahini
1 cup filtered water
1 TBSP plus 2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1 1/4 tsp sea salt
Simply whisk all of the ingredients together well until smooth and serve. If you refrigerate it, the dressing will thicken so let it come to room temperature again and whisk a bit more before using.
