Author Notes: Sometimes, salads are just a way to eat more cheese. Bring on the feta crumbles, goat cheese blobs, and pecorino shards. This dressing cuts to the chase with lots of ground parmesan, chock-full of umami. Don’t use pre-grated—it’s usually mixed with anti-caking agents labeled as “cellulose.” I like to grind chunks in a food processor until fine. Or, just use a microplane or the smallest holes on a grater. What you will need is a mandoline to shave the vegetables. Play around with the combination—just make sure it’s crunchy, crunchy, crunchy. Think carrots, radishes, daikon, turnips. —Emma Laperruque
Food52 Review: This recipe is part of Change The Way You Cook, a new series to help anyone (yes, you!) become smarter, faster, and more freewheeling in the kitchen. —The Editors
Serves: 2 as an entree, 4 as a side
Ingredients
Parmesan vinaigrette
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1/4
cup freshly ground (or finely grated) parmesan cheese
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2
tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
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Juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
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Pinch kosher salt
Salad
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1/2
head of cauliflower
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1/2
bulb of fennel (cut lengthwise, stem still attached)
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2
small beets, preferably red and golden, peeled
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Kosher salt
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Ground or finely grated parmesan, for garnish
Directions
Parmesan vinaigrette
- Combine the parmesan, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt in a jar with a lid. Close and shake, shake, shake until creamy and emulsified. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.
Salad
- Break the cauliflower into big florets. Shave on a mandoline into 1/8”-thick slices—if they’re too thin, they’ll fall apart—directly into a large bowl. Halve the fennel half, lengthwise, leaving the stem attached (this ensures pretty fennel cross-sections). Shave each fennel quarter on the mandoline into paper-thin slices, directly into the bowl. Shave each beet on the mandoline into paper-thin slices, directly into the bowl. Sprinkle with a couple big pinches of salt and toss gingerly with your hands.
- Dress the salad—you’ll use all of the vinaigrette—and toss again with your hands. Taste and adjust the salt if necessary. (This can keep in the fridge for a couple hours.) Shower with more ground parmesan just before serving.
Photo by Bobbi Lin