Warm Turmeric Cauliflower Salad with Blood Orange and Red Chilli

I don’t tend to do things halfway.

When I first discovered Kurt Vonnegut at 16, I devoured the entirety of his work in a semester – or at least, whatever my high school library had on its shelves.

When I first visited the Basque Region at 22 and fell in love with it, I didn’t think to myself, “I’ve got to come back here on another trip someday.” I moved there.

When I decided, at 26, that I wanted to be a professional writer, I quit my job and jumped into the deep end of the pool.

It’s a personality trait that has as many benefits as it has drawbacks. For example, this tendency to be all-in also follows me when I get sick, something that the Country Boy makes fun of to no end: while, generally speaking, I have an immune system of steel, precisely once a year, I catch some kind of bug, and that’s it – I am completely out of commission.

I sleep for sixteen hours a day, and I’m restless at night. I don’t really eat, except for chicken broth and endless cups of tea. I’m irritable and slow; my fevered brain is incapable of guiding me through even the simplest tasks. And then, somewhere between 36 and 48 hours later, I emerge on the other side, craving very specific things.

I want garlic, I want broth, I want citrus, I want hot chilli – the things I used to get when my roommate and I would bundle up against the wind and rain and nurse ourselves back to health with a bowl of pho in Belleville.

This warm salad does the trick, filled with health-boosting turmeric and blood orange and hot red chilli: the perfect dish for getting back on your feet.

Warm Turmeric Cauliflower Salad with Blood Orange and Red Chilli

1 head cauliflower
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 blood orange
1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
1 red chilli, minced
1/4 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 green onion, thinly sliced
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the cauliflower, turmeric, honey, and coconut oil together, lay out on a baking sheet, season with salt, and roast for about 30 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Supreme the blood orange into a large serving bowl, and add the grapeseed oil, red chilli, cilantro, and green onion. Add the cauliflower and toss to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.