Roasted Cauliflower Apple Walnut Quinoa Salad

I'm taking a break from dairy at the moment, so we've been having a lot of vegan dinners around here lately. LCBF is totally psyched about it (Ha!). Today farm box brought us a lovely head of cauliflower and some very sweet apples.

I usually like my cauliflower swimming in cheese, but tonight I decided to pair it with protein-rich quinoa and walnuts, adding apples for a little seasonal zing. The result was a hardy main dish "salad" with some really nice flavor combinations. LCBF wasn't sure what to think about it at first, but ultimately decided it was good. "I enjoyed it," he notes. Recipe for (really) enjoyable roasted cauliflower quinoa salad after the jump:

Roasted Cauliflower Apple Walnut Quinoa Salad

1 head of cauliflower, washed and cut into florets
1 apple
~ 1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1/2 c. uncooked quinoa
juice of 1/2 a lemon
~1/2 c. olive oil
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 375F/180C (convection). Toss cauliflower with about 1/4 c. of olive oil and some salt & pepper. Put cauliflower in oven to roast. The cauliflower is done when tender and browned--about 30 minutes. Add the chopped walnuts to the cauliflower about 5 minutes before you pull it out of the oven to toast them.

Pre-roasting

While the cauliflower is roasting, rinse and prepare quinoa (add 1 cup. of water, bring to a boil and lower to a simmer until all water is absorbed, about 20 minutes--or follow package instructions).

Mix together about 1/4 c. of olive oil, juice from 1/2 a lemon, salt, and pepper. When quinoa is almost cooked, peel and cut apple into small pieces. Add lemon juice mixture and apples to cooked quinoa and stir together. The lemon helps prevent the apple from browning, so you don't want to chop it until you're almost ready to add it.

Remove the cauliflower and walnuts from oven when done and combine with the apples and quinoa. Serve hot.

It must be noted that this is a, um, monochromatic dish. I kind of like it like that, but you could leave the apples unpeeled to add some color if this concerns you.