cabbage and radish salad with raspberry dressing

Updated: Go to the bottom of the post to vote on your favorite!

What fun to be a contestant in the 3rd ever Foodie Fights, a competition between 6 food bloggers who are given 2 random ingredients and told to cook something. The random ingredients for this month were cauliflower and raspberries.

Good GRIEF. The last group got lemon and potatoes and I could instantly think of a million combinations for that. But cauliflower and raspberry? Together? Honestly this stumped me. I considered and discarded idea after idea – desserts with pureed cauliflower? Casseroles? Ice cream (don’t ask – it may have been the worst of the options that flitted through my mind)? As I thought about it, however, I realized that one of the things that I love about summer is eating fresh raw (or nearly raw) veggies. I love the crunch, the bright flavors, the hundreds of combinations of tastes that can be created.

I also kept in mind that while I love the flavor of raspberries, I really don’t enjoy eating them whole or raw. I just can’t deal with the seeds in my teeth. So I knew from the beginning that I was going to puree and strain the fruit.

So I decided to keep it super simple, fresh and bright and make a crunchy cauliflower based salad with a tart raspberry dressing.

I started out by chopping the cauliflower into bite sized florets and blanching them with a quick dip in boiling water followed by a dip in ice water to stop the cooking. This took out any lingering bitterness but kept the buttery flavor and the crunch. Then I thinly sliced some red onion (maybe 1/4 of the onion) and then added some sliced fresh radish from my farmer’s market haul this past Saturday.

Then I created my dressing. This was mostly trial and error, tasting, adding, tasting some more. I wound up with 5T of the pureed raspberry, 1T of red wine vinegar, 1t Dijon mustard 1/2t honey, which I whisked together until well mixed. Then I began to drizzle in olive oil as I whisked steadily. I suspect I mixed in about 1/4 cup of oil by the time all was said and done.

Some fresh ground pepper over the top finished the dish out nicely. Honestly, I was really pleased with this dish. It was crunchy as a summer salad should be. The raspberry flavor came through beautifully in the dressing, but the bite of the vinegar and the dijon added some character.

I had some of this with my dinner Sunday night, but I have to be honest and say that the bowl I had for lunch on Monday was so much better. Allowing the flavors to blend overnight was the way to go. And for lunch I sliced a plain grilled chicken breast over the top and it was perfect.

Nutritional info (4 servings): Cals 152. Fat: 13.7g. Sodium: 38mg. Fiber: 2.5g. Carbs: 7.1g. Sugar: 3.9g. Protein: 1.6g.

Update: Vote here for your favorite from the battle.

[Ps - Don't worry; the regular Tuesday's with Dorie posting will go up tomorrow, just a little later in the day!]