White winter panzanella
with roasted endive and pickled fennel.
We love this seasonal vegcentric take on a panzanella and know that you will too. It’s one we’ve written for our friends Liebherr - best fridges around for seasonal veggies!
Panzanella is an Italian ‘bread salad’ which is typically made with tomatoes; it’s a winning dish at the height of summer. This recipe uses roasted cauliflower and endive at its base; the cauliflower becomes charred and ‘meaty’, and as the endive caramelises in the oven it becomes succulent, and sweet, and its natural bitterness is softened.
We’ve used kefir - a tangy and creamy fermented dairy product - in the white dressing, along with the zing and fragrance of lemon juice and zest. Pickled fennel offers those acidic high notes, shaved pear brings sweetness, and lactic pecorino is a winning final addition which adds complexity and textural richness.
Vegcentric.
This is a truly show-stopping, centrepiece salad fit for a vegcentric feast! Layer it up in your largest bowl and serve at the table. It’s perfect for a vegcentirc weekend lunch with friends and family. We love it on it’s own but if you’re keen to add some additional bits to the menu British charcuterie would work well on the side.
Prep time: 18 minutes
Cooking time: 22 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes
This recipe serves 4.
Ingredients:
For the roasted cauliflower & endive:
1 cauliflower, chopped into florets inc. leaves
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
12 sprigs thyme, leaves stripped from stalks
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp flakey sea sea salt
4 endive, halved
2 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp flakey sea salt
1 tbsp sugar
For the croutons:
¼ large loaf sourdough (220 g)
6 sprigs rosemary
1 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp sea salt
For the fennel pickle:
1 fennel bulb, finely sliced
50 g (¼ cup) sugar
125 ml (½ cup) white wine vinegar
125 ml (½ cup) water
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp pink peppercorns, opt.
1 tbsp fennel seeds, opt.
For the dressing:
120 g (½ cup) Kefir
1 lemon, juice & zest
4 tbsp olive oil
Other:
2 stalks celery
2 firm pears
80g hard Pecorino
Method:
Roast the cauliflower & endive: Preheat the oven to 220 degrees fan, line a large roasting tray with some greaseproof paper, and make sure an oven rack is near the top.
Cut the cauliflower into florets, approximately 4cm by 4cm, and toss these with the sliced garlic, thyme leaves, olive oil and sea salt. Spread the dressed cauliflower evenly over one half of the roasting tray.
Cut the endive in half lengthwise, and line these up, cut-side-up, on the empty half of the roasting tray; drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with the sea salt and sugar.
Roast the cauliflower and endive at the top of your hot oven for 22 mins. Open the oven every 5 minutes to allow a little steam to escape, this will enable a better roasting.
Make the croutons: slice or tear the sourdough into rough chunks approximately 3 cm by 3 cm. Strip the rosemary leaves from their stalks and roughly chop. Toss the bread with the rosemary, olive oil and sea salt. Scatter these over a roasting tray and add these to the oven for the final 8 minutes of cooking time, just until they look dry, crispy and slightly golden.
Make the fennel pickle: bring the sugar, vinegar, water, salt, peppercorns and fennel seeds to a simmer. Meanwhile slice the fennel as finely as possible. Once the pickle liquor is at simmering point turn off the heat and throw in the fennel. The residual heat will encourage the fennel to soften yet retain good crunch. If you have any pickled left over this will keep for 1 month in a sterilized jar in your fridge.
Make the dressing: simply zest and juice the lemon, and whisk all the ingredients together in a small mixing bowl.
Final bits: finely chop the celery, chop or ‘shave’ the pears using a veg peeler, and ‘shave’ the pecorino, again using a veg peeler.
Assemble the salad: allow the roasted cauli and endive to cool for 10 minutes before assembling. Build your salad layer by layer - with roasted elements, raw elements, pickled fennel, and spoonfuls of dressing in each layer. Garnish with some final shavings of pecorino, a drizzle of olive oil, and a twist of black pepper.
