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Roasted Cauliflower and Pumpkin, Freekeh Salad with Date Vinaigrette

Dress up simple roasted veggies with this sweet date vinaigrette paired with freekeh, which has a unique smokey and nutty flavour, crunchy almonds and fresh herbs.

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Breakdown

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees fan bake.
Cook the cauliflower, red and pumpkin.
While the veggies are roasting, cook the freekeh.
Make the dressing.
Allow the freekeh to cool for 10 minutes before assembling the salad.
Meanwhile, cook the halloumi.
Assemble the salad and enjoy.

Tips

When making the date vinaigrette make sure you save the liquid that the dates have been soaking in, as you’ll add some of this to the dressing.
Make sure your oven has reached temperature before cooking the veggies, this helps them get nice and crispy.
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‍Meal prep guide - if you followed the meal prep guide you would have already made pre-chopped the vegetables, cooked the freekeh and made the date vinaigrette.

‍This recipe serves four, if you’re cooking for two simply halve the recipe.

INGREDIENTS Ingredients

Ingredients

1 cauliflower (cut into bite-sized florets)
1 red onion (cut into wedges)
½ pumpkin (cut into bite-sized cubes)
¾ cup freekeh
⅓ cup almonds (roughly and roughly chopped)
½ cup coriander (roughly chopped)
½ cup parsley (roughly chopped)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

180g halloumi (sliced)
Olive oil or butter
Salt and pepper

Date Vinaigrette

3 dried dates, soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes
2 Tbsp reserved water from the soaked dates
¼ cup olive oil
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cumin
Pinch chill flakes
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees fan bake.
Add the cauliflower and red onion onto one baking tray and the pumpkin to another; drizzle generously with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Give the vegetables a good toss to coat well in the oil. Pop the veggies in the oven to roast for 30-35 minutes until golden brown and crispy.

While the veggies are roasting, cook the freekeh as per the packet instructions.
To make the dressing add all of the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth and creamy. You may need to add a little more of the reserved water from the dates to get it to a thick, creamy but pourable consistency.
Once the freekeh has cooked, allow to cool for 10 minutes before assembling the salad.

Meanwhile, cook the halloumi, start by adding about 1 Tbsp of olive oil to a large pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the halloumi. Cook for a couple of minutes on either side until golden brown but still soft in the centre.

To assemble start by adding ½ of the dressing, half of the herbs and half of the roasted almonds to the cooled freekeh; stir to incorporate.
Then grab a large platter or plate then add a layer of the freekeh mix and a layer of the roasted vegetables and repeat until everything has been used. Top with the remaining herbs, almonds and dressing.

VARIATIONS

Vegetables

You can swap out the cauliflower and pumpkin for any roasted vegetables you’d like. This salad works really well with roasted carrot and parsnips or sweet potato.

Protein

One of the great things about salads like these is that you can serve them alongside any protein you’d like, we’ve chosen halloumi but you could make a protein side from our basics section like chicken, salmon or steak or even use some leftover roasted chicken or smoked salmon for an easy option.

Other

You can swap out the freekeh for brown rice, black rice or any ancient grain like quinoa or amaranth.

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