Dashi Simmered Cauliflower and New Pickle Salad with Creamy Sesame Vinaigrette

Day 7 is Fancy! (But not really.)

Day 7 of Christmas Salads, is an homage to one of my favorite about-to-be-shuttered restaurants in NYC, EN Japanese Brasserie. What has made EN special to me, not only the crowd, vibe and ambiance, is their delicate vegetable-based dishes that you can order as an assortment. They are always so delightful and surprising—gently simmered lotus root, sesame crusted spinach or house shiso-pickled radish. Everything is so very memorable. I have had two heads of gorgeous purple and yellow cauliflower from the farmer’s market sitting in my fridge, and I could not get out the idea of trying my own spin on one of EN’s specialties. Mainly also, cause roasted cauliflower is kind of boring. (Don’t get me started on restaurants that offer cauliflower steak as their only veg entree. Ugh.) So yes, this salad has a couple more steps than usual. And yes dashi sounds intimidating, but I’m sure any traditionalist will tell you, my dashi recipe is hardly authentic but it is very quick and easy. It’s also vegan. And while most of my salads would do fine to add protein too, I actually think this salad stands beautifully by itself, maybe with a steaming bowl of rice or quinoa. If you’re flirting with the idea of Meatless Mondays or just a plant-based meal in general, this is a beautiful start. As I say in my video, you can skip the dashi step altogether and simply blanch your cauliflower in water and the salad will still be incredibly delicious thanks to the salted cucumber and creamy, nutty sesame dressing. But brownie points to anyone who tries :) I should also note that there is truly nothing Christmas-y about this salad, but, does it matter? Regardless, hope you enjoy!