I saw a few days ago on Smittenkitchen a recipe for a roast cauliflower and bean salad, which she had adapted from somewhere else. She seemed distinctly underwhelmed by the salad. I don’t particularly like kidney beans, and even the beautiful photography on her site couldn’t make this look mouthwatering. I did not want to make it.

However, in a kind of online-recipe chinese whispers, I adapted the recipe myself, retaining only the ‘cauliflower and bean’ concept, and I think it’s different enough to say I have invented a whole new salad. Patent pending.

I roasted the cauliflower with hot smoked paprika and crushed garlic, giving a lovely smoky sweet n’ garlickyness to the finished product. I used black beans instead of whatever beans the original recipe used. And to go with this I lightly pickled a red pepper and some runner beans, to give some sharpness to cut through the smoky paprika, and add a tangy dimension to the salad. I added a chopped green chilli for a bit of heat. There’s no dressing, but it effectively gets dressed by the garlic and paprika in the bowl, and by whatever brine clings to the green beans and peppers.

And it all worked really well, in my humble opinion (though its hard to give a clear-eyed judgement of my own creation). The smoky sweetness of the cauliflower was cut with the sharp briny snap of the other vegetables, black beans held it all together, and the chilli gave good heat. I think I might make this again.

I don’t know what to call this. Maybe Arabian salad, because red, green, black and white are the colours of the pan-Arab flags?

Cauliflower and Black Bean Salad
1 head of cauliflower
1 handful of runner beans
1 red bell pepper
4 cloves of garlic
1 400g can black beans
1 green chilli
3 or 4 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp hot smoked paprika
Oil

Slice the runner beans to whatever bite-size pieces you prefer. Cut the skin off the red pepper (I did this by cutting each half into three pieces lengthwise, and laying each one skin down on the chopping board, then sliding the knife under the skin and close to the board). Then chop them into similar sized chunks to the beans.

Put the vinegar and sugar in a bowl with half a teaspoon of salt, mix well, and then taste to check the vinegar-sugar-salt balance. Add a bit more sugar if you think it need it. Then add the vegetables to the sweet brine, mix well and leave to stand for at least half an hour. They should soften slightly, yet retain their crunch and have a sharp, sweet tang.

Cut the florets of cauliflower from the head and break them into bite-sized pieces. Put them in a large bowl with the crushed garlic. Add the paprika, a liberal sprinkling of salt and oil (olive oil, sunflower oil, whichever you prefer), and toss all the ingredients together. When well mixed, spread it all out on a baking sheet and roast for about ten minutes (I like my vegetables to have some bite) in a hot oven (about 200C).

Drain the black beans and place them in the bowl you did the cauliflower in. There should still be delicious smoked paprika, garlic and oil in there. Add salt to taste, and mix in the finely chopped green chilli. Now add the (still hot) roasted cauliflower, and drain the beans and bell pepper, and add those too. Mix well, and serve. There should be enough there for a good lunch for 2 people.