Baked cauli & feta salad with golden raisin dressing

Servings:

Fine, yes, this IS another play on the feta tray bake AND yet another roasted cauli salad, but this time it’s all about that golden raisin dressing … make it rain! You could use currants or regular sultanas instead – any dried droop will do! Parcooking the cauli will ensure it’s always cooked through. You could use other beans – whatever you have in the pantry – or even cook dry beans from scratch. It is a bit of a ‘complete meal’ salad, and perfect if you’ve got vegos coming around. If you want the feta to melt and be a bit more mushy, use Danish feta. For firmer ‘bits’, use a Greek one. You could even blob with marinated Persian feta as a finisher if that’s what you have.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) or 180°C (350°F) fan forced.
Put cauliflower in a heatproof bowl and cover with just-boiled water. Leave to par-cook for 1 minute. Drain, then leave the cauli to steam dry.
Meanwhile, cut the fennel into fine wedges, keeping the bases intact.
Add to the bowl with the cauli, pour in half of the olive oil and toss to coat. Transfer to a baking tray and place in the oven, close to the top.
Into the same oily bowl, pop the butter beans, garlic, fennel seeds, lemon peel and a pinch of salt flakes, then drizzle with the rest of the olive oil and toss about to coat. Transfer to a second baking tray. Nestle the feta block into the middle of the tray of beans.
Place towards the bottom of the oven, and leave both trays to roast for 20–25 minutes until the fennel and cauli have softened and coloured, and the feta has started to burnish and curl at the edges, swapping the trays halfway through if need be.
To make the dressing, pour the reserved lemon juice over the golden raisins. When the trays come out of the oven, use tongs to collect the garlic and set aside to cool slightly. Squeeze out the pulp of the garlic cloves over the golden raisins, adding any residual pan juices and the olive oil and salt. Whisk together with a fork to combine, then taste and season with additional salt and pepper if need be. Discard garlic skins.
Put the veg, beans and feta into a mixing bowl and toss about gently to break the feta up.
When ready to serve, transfer the feta’d veg and beans to a serving platter. Shower the golden raisin dressing mixture over the lot. Scatter the slivered almonds on top and drizzle with honey, finishing with the reserved fennel fronds. Give it all one last crack of pepper, and a final flourish of extra olive oil.