2 good side dishes

After tossing about 30 cookbooks, I narrowed my selection to classics, vintage and musts.  One of the keepers is Olive & Oranges by Sara Jenkins & Mindy Fox.  I've really enjoyed their cookbook.  Tonight, I tried two different recipes.  A cauliflower and a salad.  I changed the cauliflower a bit but I basically stuck to the salad.  Here they are.

Cauliflower
2 small heads of cauliflower cut into tiny florets

4 sprigs of rosemary (take the leaves and chop them up)

1/4 cup tahini

4 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup cold water

kosher salt

olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350.  Toss the cauliflower, rosemary, olive oil and salt together.   Don't get too crazy on the olive oil.  Just enough to coat.  Roast for about an hour or until the dish is toasty

Whisk together the tahini, lemon juice and water.

Pour over the cauliflower and serve.  Salt for taste.  

Salad
SALAD:

2 cups of baby arugula

4 radishes thinly sliced

1 box of grape or cherry tomatoes cut in half

2 scallions thinly sliced (white parts only)

1 cucumber peeled and cut into thin slices ( preferably half moons )

kosher salt or sea salt

1 cup farro

1 cup loosely sliced basil leaves

1/4 cup olive oil

3 tbsp. red wine vinegar

Make the farro first.  I took one cup of raw farro and poured it into 3 cups of salted boiling water.  Let this hang out for about 10 minutes or until the farro is just a tad crunchy.  Strain and cool to room temperature

Mix together the arugula, radishes, tomatoes, scallions and cucumber with the olive oil and vinegar.  Add salt for taste.  

Add in the farro and basil leaves, mix again.  Serve.  Nice light simple salad. 

I served these dishes with a roasted chicken on the side.  A nice Sunday night dinner.