Cabbage Salad with Thyme-Roasted Baby Romanesco & Tomatoes

I found this interesting-looking vegetable in my CSA box last week:

That’s one thing I love about CSA produce ~ I end up with items in my fridge that I would never ordinarily buy, and I have to figure out what to do with them!  But more on CSAs later…

As it turns out, this is baby romanesco – a relative of cauliflower that tastes exactly like it! I bet you’d never think this would taste like cauliflower, right?

And here’s how it turned out:

Thyme-Roasted Baby Romanesco

• 1 small head romanesco
• 1-2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• salt & pepper to taste

Cut the romanesco into small pieces, add the thyme, salt & pepper, and toss with the coconut oil.  Bake uncovered at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.

Quick-Roasted Tomato

• 1 large tomato, chopped in large pieces
• salt & pepper to taste

Toss the tomato with salt & pepper, and bake at 450 for 15 minutes.

The Salad

• 5 cups cabbage, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup arugula, chopped
• 1 cucumber, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 2 tablespoons hemp seeds
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Place the cabbage in a bowl, add the olive oil, lemon juice and salt, and briefly massage (yes, using your hands!) You don’t want the cabbage to become limp, just to soften a bit, so massage it for only a minute or two.

Once the romanesco and tomato are roasted, set them aside to cook a bit. Add the arugula, cucumber and cilantro to the cabbage and stir well.  Artfully decorate the top of the salad with the romanesco and tomato for presentation purposes 🙂

Just before serving, stir in the balsamic vinegar and hemp seeds (I left the vinegar to last so that it wouldn’t discolor the cabbage) and serve.