Cauliflower Couscous Salad

I’ve been riffing on the brilliant recipes in Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables by Joshua McFadden for a year now. Here, I turn raw cauliflower into a vegetable couscous at his urging, and combine it with a variety of textures and flavours in my own take on one of Joshua’s great ideas. If you can get your hands on purple or orange cauliflower, they make a stunning salad. 1 small cauliflower

⅓ cup (80 mL) golden raisins, chopped

1/2 cup (125 mL) toasted, unsalted almonds, chopped 1 cup (250 mL) chopped parsley, loosely packed 1/2 cup (125 mL) chopped basil, loosely packed ¼ cup (60 mL) balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup (125 mL) extra virgin olive oil

4 finely chopped anchovy fillets

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 1 Remove the leaves from the cauliflower and, if leaves are fresh and unblemished, roughly chop and add to a large salad bowl. 2 Break or chop the cauliflower into 1-inch (2.5-cm) pieces and add to a food processor (working in batches if necessary); pulse until finely chopped and roughly the size of cooked couscous; add to salad bowl along with the raisins, almonds, parsley and basil. (Salad may be prepared to this point, covered and refrigerated for up to a day. Return to room temperature before serving.) 3 In a separate small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, anchovies and garlic; pour over salad ingredients and toss to combine. Season generously with salt and pepper and serve straight away.

Serves 4 to 6