Insalata di Rinforzo
This healthy pickled vegetable salad is more like an antipasto. It's traditional in Italy on Christmas Eve, but it's also made throughout the year and it makes a great summer salad. Traditionally, it's also heavy in excess olive oil; we've lightened it by swapping some of the excess oil for our skinny salad dressing base without impacting the taste or texture one bit. This should be made ahead; in fact, a day ahead is ideal, if possible.
Ingredients
- 1 head Cauliflower medium, chopped
- 1 tablespoon Capers
- ⅓ cup Green Olives halved, pitted (2 oz / 50 g)
- ⅓ cup Black Olives halved, pitted (2 oz / 50 g)
- ½ cup Gherkins chopped (3 oz 75 g)
- ⅓ cup Pickled Peppers chopped (2 oz / 50 g)
- 6 Anchovies chopped
- 4 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 4 tablespoons Salad Dressing Base
- 2 tablespoons Vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Ground Pepper
- Salt
Instructions
- Prepare some Salad Dressing Base, if you don't already have some to hand in the fridge.
- Prep the cauliflower by trimming the leaves away, cutting it into small florets, and washing them.
- Bring a large, generous pot of water to the boil. Blanche the cauliflower by adding it (carefully) to the boiling water, and start timing 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, scoop out the cauliflower and put it in cold water to cool quickly. Let it sit there while you do the rest.
- Prep and assemble all the other ingredients in a very large bowl down to the ground black pepper.
- Drain the cauliflower very well (tip -- you could use a salad spinner), add to the bowl, toss it all gently to mix. Season with salt to taste.
- Put in fridge in a covered container for an least an hour before serving.
Notes
Our head of cauliflower was 50 oz / 1.4 kg before prepping; 40 oz / 1.1 kg. after prepping and chopping. A bit smaller one would work just as fine. But make sure that in the blanching, it still comes out quite crisp. If it goes soft on you, reserve that batch for another different use and start again with a new head of cauliflower.
Allow yourself some time to prep the olives.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!