I had a cauliflower on hand from a dinner I hadn’t ended up making, and decided to try this Cauliflower Salad with Dates and Pistachios as it seemed like a good lunch option.

I made this one day while I was roasting something else for dinner, so the oven wasn’t quite hot enough. I let the cauliflower go a little longer but I didn’t get the veggies charred as she notes. I could have left them in the oven a bit longer once dinner came out but I wanted to have this pretty much done by the time dinner was on the table.

This was a miss for me, but I think it’s primarily because it sat in the fridge for a couple of days before I dug into it. The cauliflower was good and it wasn’t too oniony, which I was a little worried about. But the pistachios had soaked up enough liquid that they had a strange texture. And the dates had just kind of disintegrated, and made the whole thing too sweet. Some of that’s because I accidentally got fresh dates and Deb calls for dried, and I bet dried dates will hold up better. If you’re not going to have this right away, I’d plan to add the dates and pistachios separately to each serving. I’d also recommend that you consider cutting back the amount of dates she calls for, and just add an amount that looks good to you.