Two things happened on Monday: It was Jack’s birthday and also we won the Saveur Reader’s Choice Best Cooking Blog award! Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all of you who voted for us! As someone who’s not used to winning things, I really didn’t see this coming. I’m shocked and just so flattered.
I realize — I probably should be posting cocktails and cake, but it’s been a heck of a busy week, so today I bring you: Celebration Salad. (Although, stay tuned, I have some yummy birthday carrot cake coming up next week).
But for now, this salad. (Which I think is worth celebrating). It’s fresh, springy, and would be so perfect for easter. I had some gorgeous romanesco, but you could sub cauliflower just as easily. I blanched the romanesco just a bit and tossed it with a lemony dijon dressing along with chickpeas, avocado, eggs, capers and smoked salmon.
Happy Easter!
romanesco & chickpea salad
- a few cups of romanesco florettes
- ½ cup chickpeas
- ½ avocado, sliced
- 2 tablespoons capers
- 2 tablespoons chopped scallions
- handful of sprouts
- lemon zest
- a few tablespoons of chopped dill
- optional: soft boiled or poached eggs
- optional: slices of smoked salmon
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ½ tablespoon sherry or white wine vinegar
- ½ teaspoon dijon
- 1 garlic clove, smashed
- salt, pepper
- Whisk dressing together, set aside. Remove the garlic clove before using.
- Place the chickpeas in a bowl and toss with a bit of the dressing and an extra pinch of salt.
- In a medium pot of boiling salted water, blanch the romanesco for 1 minute, transfer it to a bowl of ice water. Drain and set aside to dry on a towel. Sprinkle with a little salt.
- Fill your pot with fresh water medium and heat the water to a gentle simmer (just below boiling). Use a slotted spoon to carefully drop the egg in and let it cook for 7-8 minutes. Remove and chill immediately in a bowl with ice water. Let the egg cool then slice off just a bit of the shell from the bottom of the egg. Take a regular spoon and carefully slide it in and around the egg to loosen it from the shell. (Repeat with however many eggs you want).
- While you wait for your eggs to cook, toss the romanesco, chickpeas, capers, scallions, and dill together with the dressing. Plate, then assemble the avocado, smoked salmon and eggs on top along with a handful of sprouts and some lemon zest. Taste and adjust seasonings.
I found this video helpful for peeling soft boiled eggs.
Made this tonight, but switched the romanesco for cauliflower since it was impossible to find. 12/10!!! It was so good!
This salad looks beautiful! Recently I can’t stop eating chickpeas in my salad, and love to use an avocado dressing. I also have posted recipes for chickpea curry, crunchy chickpeas, and could imagine doing some cilantro hummus. Thanks for the inspiration!
http://www.prettyrusticlife.com/
Hello!
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super congrats! And that salad looks insanely gorgeous.
Congrats! As a newer reader to your site, I am so happy for you and can’t wait to explore more recipes! That salad looks delicious!
thanks! And welcome 🙂
congrats on your major award!! well done, well deserved.
Congratulations on the award!! I love the sounds of this salad, so fresh and colourful. I would definitely opt for the soft boiled egg, smoked salmon option, then it becomes kind of like a healthy brunch. Yum!
Such a beautiful salad! I absolutely love the idea of adding smoked salmon. It’s fantastic on a bagel – why did I never think to add it to a salad? Lovely photographs, too! 🙂
This was great!. I used orange cauliflower, it was beautiful and tasty!
so glad you liked it!
Congratulations on you Saveur Food Blog Award – I would to personally invite you to share your gorgeous food photos with us over at Food Foto Gallery . com – In March alone, we had 26,382 visitors to the site & there’s no complicated approval process like the big guys. Any photos related to food (that are not watermarked) are accepted & get posted automatically. We also share our daily faves on social media, giving exposure to food bloggers when we can. Let me know if you have any questions and hope to see you at the site 🙂
Congratulations!!!!!!
Great healthy salad!!
Congrats on your award. Your recipes are so fresh and modern -very well deserved. Im drooling over this salad, but also the frittata…..would it be greedy to have both!!
Many congrats on a well-deserved win!! Seriously, love this blog. And I may just have to make this, perhaps with extra avocado in lieu of the eggs and salmon. 🙂
Thanks Sarah! Of course – just leave out the eggs and salmon (the chickpeas and avocado are plenty filling!)
Big huge congratulations! Such awesome news! Gorgeous salad too!
such a pretty salad – with smoked salmon and romanesco?? salad celebration sounds just about right to me…
Congratulations!
And this salad is beautiful. I can’t wait to try it.
I’ve never used romanesco before, but I love the way it looks, its beautiful! Congratulations on the best cooking blog award, I certainly agree 🙂
Congrats on your award! It’s well-deserved and I love seeing Austin bloggers represented 😉
Quick question–how happy are you with the marble counter tops? I personally don’t mind a few stains here and there but as someone who also cooks a lot, I ended up going with quartz for resale value even though marble is what I wanted. Just wanted to know for my next house. Thanks!
I love them, but marble isn’t for everyone. (Like you, in a previous house I renovated a kitchen with quartz – it was so low maintenance!).
I have a few huge cutting boards and I cook a little “neater” than I used to. Not a big deal really, it was just a matter of changing a few habits. Stains aren’t as big of a problem as etching – you can’t splash lemon juice (of all things), vinegars, or anything acidic. If you spill red wine and clean it up it’s not a problem…
You deserved the award!!!!! You have the best one!!!
Congratulations! Well deserved.
This salad sounds fantastic 🙂