A raw cauliflower salad with horseradish, dill and yoghurt dressing

Raw cauliflower salad :: Sonja Dahlgren/Dagmar's Kitchen

Hi everyone! I know it’s been a while since I last posted something here. Not because I haven’t been wanting too. I absolutely love to share my recipes, photos and stories. But the reality is that I am struggling right now to fit it all in my days. And I suppose I’ve also had a bit of a creative block.

You know the feeling that you have nothing to share. Nothing that would be fresh, original and new.

But then on our way home from my in-laws the other day we stopped at Mariebergs Gårdsbutik, a farm shop about 40 minutes drive from where we live. A favorite place of mine, unfortunately too far off to visit every week though.

Mariebergs Gårdsbutik/Farm shop :: Sonja Dahlgren/Dagmar's Kitchen

And when I saw this fantastic organic produce I knew I had to photograph it. I knew I had to blog again. Because fresh, seasonal produce never cease to inspire me.

And as always when I find fresh and inspiring produce my head starts to spin and create new recipes. I knew I wanted to use the purple cauli as the main ingredient, but I also wanted to include the horseradish. After all they’re from the same family of vegetables (read this book to find out all about our most common veg and their families) and would make a wonderfully crunchy salad with fresh flavors.

Purple cauliflower :: Sonja Dahlgren/Dagmar's KitchenRaw cauliflower salad :: Sonja Dahlgren/Dagmar's Kitchen

Perhaps this is not for the kids if you spice it up with lots of horseradish. But do steam some cauliflower on the side for them and serve with olive oil/butter and a pinch of salt – my kids love it!

However, be careful when cooking the purple cauli – it turns pale blue in colour. Therefore it is in my opinion best eaten raw or steamed for 1 minute only to reduce colour loss. The texture is naturally more crunchy when steamed for such short time, but it’s a trade off. I steam white cauli for about 3 mins.

If you can’t find purple cauliflower, replace it with broccoli or use white cauli only.

And – I know it is hard to choose one (we love ’em all!) but which one is your favourite produce right now?

Happy cooking!


Printable recipe

A raw cauliflower salad with horseradish, dill and yoghurt dressing

serves 4-6

2 heads of fresh cauliflower, 1 purple and 1 white
1 small red onion, finely sliced
1 apple (preferably e.g. Discovery or Aroma or any acidic variety), peeled, cored and cubed
1 tbsp raw chia seeds
1 handful walnuts, pan toasted and roughly chopped

1 cup plain Skyr yoghurt (or a greek/turkish variety)
a large bunch of fresh dill, finely chopped
fresh horseradish, finely grated (amount to suit your tastebuds)
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

1) Separate the cauliflower florets from the stalk and cut them into smaller pieces. (Keep the stalk for e.g. juicing or cooking later.) Combine the florets in a serving bowl together with onion, apple, chia seeds and walnuts (keep some for garnish).
2) Combine all ingredients for the yoghurt dressing in a small bowl.
3) Add the yoghurt dressing to the vegetables and use your hands to mix until everything is coated in yoghurt.
4) Sprinkle chia seeds, walnuts and dill on top and serve.

This is great as a side dish for oily fish (such as salmon or mackerel) or as a light lunch.

TIP! I used Skyr yoghurt for this recipe because I wanted to make it as high in proteins as possible. Skyr is an Icelandic yoghurt, high in proteins and very low in fat, that has become very popular in Scandinavia. You can replace it with any thick, natural (unsweetened) yoghurt though.

Raw cauliflower salad :: Sonja Dahlgren/Dagmar's Kitchen

show hide 18 comments

Sini | My Blue&White Kitchen - August 27, 2014 - 1:11 pm

Welcome back, Sonja! I’ve missed your posts tremendously, so I’ve been thankful for Instagram ;) This salad looks luscious and I can imagine how amazing it must be with gravad lax.
It’s so hard to choose just one favorite produce at the moment…but maybe gooseberries because they’re pretty hard to come by but have a wonderful flavor.

Josefine {The Smoothie Lover} - August 27, 2014 - 1:57 pm

Oh, what a gorgeous salad. You are quite right – nothing brings out inspiration as good as fresh produce does :) Thanks for the wonderful recipe! Pinned ;)

Kimberly - August 27, 2014 - 10:51 pm

Hi Sonia,

oh I was really looking forward to this blog post. Instagram is great, but there is nothing like seeing the full picture n a blog post, wouldn’t you agree?

I love the colours and the dressing looks so creamy and yummy. I am sure that the dill finished everything off nicely. What a creative recipe.

Thanks for sharing
Kimberly :)

sabine - August 31, 2014 - 3:40 pm

love how your salad comes in such lovely pastel colors! Beautiful pictures, too….thanks for sharing!

Ann-Louise - September 1, 2014 - 1:55 pm

Gorgeous salad! I’m a big fan of horse radish and am always on the look out for new ways of using it.

Louise Bondebjer - September 2, 2014 - 3:39 pm

Vilken underbar sallad- den måste jag ju bara prova- MUMS!
TACK…

Patry de Sabores y Momentos - September 2, 2014 - 9:22 pm

Welcome back!! Your photos always inspire me and this recipe is, as most of yours, simply delicious! Thanks for sharing!

Sonja {Dagmar's Kitchen} - September 4, 2014 - 5:56 pm

Sini – Thank you so much! Oh, yes gooseberries… :-) We were supposed to dig up a gooseberry bush from our neighbour in the spring, but it never happened. So now you reminded me I should do it before it gets too cold out and perhaps next year we can also have gooseberries!

Sonja {Dagmar's Kitchen} - September 4, 2014 - 5:57 pm

Josefine – Thank you! Agree, nothing like fresh seasonal produce :-)

Sonja {Dagmar's Kitchen} - September 4, 2014 - 5:58 pm

Kimberly – I absoulutely agree! Thank you so much for your kind words!

Sonja {Dagmar's Kitchen} - September 4, 2014 - 6:00 pm

Sabine – Thank you! Yes, the color is truly amazing :-)

Ann-Louise Tack! Ja, visst är det gott med pepparrot – borde användas oftare, helt klart!

Louise – Tack! Ja, du måste prova!

Patry – Thank you ! I’m so glad to hear that you get inspired here :-)

Francine Schissell - September 19, 2014 - 4:08 pm

I would like to subscribe

Francine Schissell

Juliana - July 3, 2015 - 3:22 pm

This salad is absolutely delicious! I made it with cauliflower from our garden and served it as part of a buffet. It got rave reviews.

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