Roasted Cauliflower, Carrots and Radish with Arugula Salsa Verde

Spring in the garden always feels like a miracle. I was cleaning up leaves in my garden beds in the lower yard and an intense wave of mint-scented air hit me as I uncovered it’s slow winter growth and sampled a few tastes of my chocolate mint and spearmint. Next, I uncovered lemon balm, oregano, comfrey, and harvested the first short stalks of rhubarb. Meanwhile the fruits trees are just starting to blossom. The apricot tree out front always blossoms first, and we didn’t get fruit the last two years because of a few late, hard frosts. Here’s to hoping for this year, while there’s still a promise of magic in the spring air.

Roasted Vegetables

1 cauliflower, stem chopped, florets separated
1 handful/bunch carrots, chopped lengthwise
1 handful/bunch radishes, quartered
1 handful/bunch chives, chopped
Sea salt
Pepper
Lemon
EV olive oil

Method

Heat your oven to 425.
Place the cauliflower, carrots, and radishes on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon. Roast until the cauliflower is browned, then stir the chives into the mix.

Arugula Salsa Verde

1 cup arugula, finely chopped
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
1/4 cup mint, finely chopped
1 tablespoon capers, finely diced
8 anchovies, chopped
1 tsp sea salt
5 kumquats, thinly sliced, seeds removed
1/2 cup EV olive oil
Fresh ground pepper

Method

Thoroughly mix the arugula, parsley, mint, capers, and anchovies, then stir in the kumquats, olive oil and finish with sea salt and fresh pepper.

Serve the roasted vegetables on top of more arugula and other greens, and spread the salsa verde on top. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and plain, whole milk yogurt.