Posted on
by 
6 Comments The combination of the roasted cauliflower works really well in this easy dish. Roasting cauliflower always brings out the best flavors if you ask me!
Roasted cauliflower with quinoa
I’m sure it is no secret that I have a big love for all things cauliflower. I even go as far as to make a “rice pudding” out of cauliflower and I eat cauliflower rice more than regular rice. That said, there is nothing wrong with regular rice, which I also love. I just think that adding cauliflower rice to things like a poke bowl increases the vegetable intake in a really easy way. So that’s why I tend to go for that. Plus I love the taste too.
Now quinoa is another favorite of mine. I use it mostly in simple salads like this quinoa salad with chipotle dressing, but it also pairs really well with cauliflower. As the cauliflower is roasted that also means it is warm (obviously) so you can eat the dish as a warm dish or use it as a salad. It’s pretty flexible although I would eat it right away as soon as you add the lamb’s lettuce.
With asparagus
Now the funny thing is that in the roasted cauliflower with quinoa there is also somewhere asparagus hidden. If I look at the photos I almost can’t find the asparagus. But it’s there. Also roasted almonds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. So high in nutrition and not too much work. It’s not a very light dish but you can decrease the amount of calories by changing the dressing. That now contains almond butter, making it heavy. Also reduce the number of nuts and seeds in the dish and it will easily be your new favorite.
Roasted cauliflower with quinoa
Ingredients
- 150 gr quinoa
- 1/2 cauliflower in florets
- 100 gr green asparagus
- 20 gram pumpkin seeds
- 20 gr sunflower seeds
- 50 gr roasted almonds
- 40 gr lamb’s lettuce
- 1/2 tsp chili flakes
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
Dressing
- 2 tbsp almond butter white
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- pepper
- salt
Titel
- Preheat the oven to 200˚C.
- Place the cauliflower on a large baking tray and sprinkle with oliveoil. Add some turmeric, chiliflakes and pepper and salt. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes. Add the asparagus and continue roasting for another 15 minutes.
- In the meantime cook the quinoa according to package instructions. Drain and leave to cool.
- Add the roasted vegetables, the sunflower seeds, roasted almonds and the pumpkin seeds to the quinoa and make the dressing by mixing the ingredients. Add the lamb’s lettuce as the last item and serve immediately.
Nutrition Information per portion:
Disclaimer:
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
I love meat, but could easily become vegetarian. I figure it’d take a lifetime just to work through all the wonderful Indian vegetarian dishes! Vegan would be hard, though — I’d miss butter and cheese. Anyway, lovely dish — thanks.
Thanks John. Yes, I agree that vegan would be much harder. Vegetarian is not that complicated when you think about it but vegan definitely requires some more work… 🙂
I applaud you.
Best of luck in your latest ventures in food and nutrition.
I have never made a dressing with almond paste before and I am so curious to try it. Looks delicious.
Thanks so much Cathy!
I just went through this transition myself! Something just kind of clicked and I can’t eat meat anymore. It helps that my husband adopted a vegetarian diet recently. What’s funny is we each did it for different reasons; he was more motivated by the environmental effects and it was more the ethical/animal aspect for me. I hear you on the vegan thing, I considered it too but it’s just too hard! For now I am committed to buying local pasture raised eggs and dairy. Anyway, congrats and way to go!
As for the recipe, when you say almond paste do you mean the kind you bake with? That’s the only almond paste I am familiar with but it has added sugar that seems an odd fit for this salad. Looks delicious!
He Meg! Ah good to know you also moved to vegetarian! I wish my husband would be vegetarian too, that would be easier. He’s supportive enough so no complaining there but he still eats meat.
I think I should change the almond paste to almond butter. We call it paste in the Netherlands as we’re not allowed to call it “butter” here (apparently that is not legal for whatever reason) but it definitely doesn’t have sugar in it. It is just almonds. ground together until it forms a butter. That’s all. Nothing added. I’ll change it in the recipe!