Winter salads are a lunch staple for me. If you didn’t notice by my onslaught of salad posts on the blog at the moment. This one has lovely mellow flavours happening and can be eaten hot or cold. Also it has macadamias and a burnt butter dressing going on. You know that’s going to be good.

The cannelini beans and quinoa make it super filling and it’s quite rich with the dressing, the macadamias, the parmesan flaked on top. It would make a beautiful side dish to a big share platter feast along with this mince dish or the vegetarian version of the same dish.

I also love the simple colours, the roasted cauliflower next to the kale and parsley and the matching quinoa, cannelini beans, parmesan and macadamias. It makes it kind of look very put together!

If you want to be ‘healthier’ you could just make and olive oil and lemon dressing rather than the burnt butter and lemon one in the recipe. But with this much goodness going on there’s nothing wrong with a little indulgence! Either way I’m very much into kale, cauliflower and lemon at the moment. Especially when the cauliflower is roasted like this, it really transforms the flavour and is so simple to do.

This salad is gluten free naturally so if you’re that way inclined you don’t need to change anything. It’s also full of protein, fibre and a nice hit of fat. This should help keep you full and away from wanting sweet things. But I have issues this week and can’t stop reaching for chocolate after lunch. I’m trying to either make it 2 squares of the dark kind or 1 of these rather indulgent bliss balls or mint slice cookies. The perfect end to a meal involving this nourishing salad.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1.5 cups dry cannelini beans

2 cups cooked quinoa

1 head cauliflower

3 cups shredded kale

2/3 cup roasted macadamias

2 cups parsley leaves

1/2 cup spring onion sliced

zest and juice of 1 lemon

salt

pepper

40g parmesan cheese, shaved

lemon wedges to serve

Directions

Soak beans overnight. Drain then cover in cold water, 5cm above beans. Add a bayleaf and the white ends of 2 spring onions. Bring to the boil. Simmer for 1 hour. Drain.

Preheat oven to 150 degrees celsius. Roast cauliflower for 35-45 minutes, or until golden.

Toss cooked, warm cannelini beans with spring onion, kale and lemon zest. Melt butter in a pan and let cook until it just starts to turn golden brown, swirling often. Add lemon juice and pour over cannelini bean and kale mixture. Add parsley leaves, cauliflower and quinoa and toss to combine. Season generously.

Sprinkle with roughly chopped macadamias and parmesan and serve with lemon wedges.

HH. x

Tip: make it vegan by omitting the parmesan and using olive oil (uncooked) instead of butter.