Marinated Cauliflower Antipasto Salad

Here I sit, in the afterglow of my first bowl of this antipasto.  This stuff is REALLY good.  Far better and a LOT cheaper than any I've purchased from the Italian Deli!!


I always thought cauliflower was awful.  Nasty texture - no taste..  UNTIL I found out how versatile it is.  I've seen pizza crusts and mashed faux-tatoes, fried rice and even ice cream made with it.  This may be the place it shines.  There's nothing like a good pickled cauliflower.

This one is a MUST for your summer dinners (or snacks!)

Ingredients:

1 medium head cauliflower, cut into bite sized pieces (4 cups cauliflower pieces)
1 cup marinated mushrooms, sliced
2 oz. salami, cut into short strips
2 oz. Provolone cheese, cut into short strips
6 oz. olives - whatever you like, drained and cut in half
1 jar (12 oz.) roasted red peppers, drained and cut into strips
3 T capers, drained (more or less to taste)


Dressing Ingredients:

1/4 cup vinaigrette dressing
1 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 T caper juice (from the jar of capers)
1/2 tsp. dried Greek oregano

Instructions:

Cut out the core of the cauliflower and discard

Cut the raw cauliflower into bite sized pieces in a covered bowl 
Add 4 Tbsp water and microwave for 4 minutes on high (may vary - cook to tender-crisp)
Put in a colander and allow to cool.

While the cauliflower drains, whisk together vinaigrette dressing, olive oil, lemon juice, caper juice, and dried oregano to make the dressing. When cauliflower has drained well, put a double layer of paper towels on the counter, spread cauliflower out on the towels and pat dry with more towels. 

Be sure to get the cauliflower as dry as you can get it, or the salad will be watery.

Put the cauliflower in a large bowl and toss with the salami strips, 

Provolone strips, red pepper strips, sliced mushrooms, olives, and capers. 
Dump everything into a large Ziploc bag with the dressing and let it all marinate in the fridge, preferably for 4-6 hours or as long as all day. (Minimum marinating time is 2-3 hours if you don't plan far enough ahead.)   Add more dressing until the salad is as moist as you prefer. (You may not want all the dressing.) 

Season to taste with salt and fresh-ground black pepper and serve.

This salad can be made several hours ahead and will also keep in the fridge for a couple weeks.  It just gets better!

Cook's Notes:

• Instant marinated mushrooms by cutting button mushrooms into bite size pieces, drizzle well with vinaigrette and microwave, covered, on high for 3 minutes 
• Add on's:  Boconcini (little mozzerella balls), Yellow pepper rings, pickled jalapenos, steamed (microwaved) onion petals, <insert imagination here>

DO THIS!!!