A Homemade Birthday Dinner

This weekend, my boyfriend Jamie and I packed up our things and ventured down to South Jersey for his mother’s birthday. Her birthday wish? A home-cooked meal. I quickly volunteered to create the side-dishes, knowing I had a few crowd-pleasing recipes up my sleeve: roasted cauliflower with cherry peppers, and our feel-good favorite, kale salad. I was excited to accomplish our goal of eating seasonably only four days into the month of March!

Here we are, chopping away

The entrée was salmon, which we broiled, and Jamie was brave and made Sauce Verte for the fish – which came out incredibly well! I don’t have the exact recipe for the sauce verte, but similar can be found here. 

Roasted Cauliflower with Hot Cherry Peppers and Breadcrumbs
(recipe courtesy of The Meatball Shop)

THE RECIPE:

Ingredients: 1 large head cauliflower, cored and cut into large florets, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 teaspoons salt, 1/4 cup finely sliced hot cherry peppers (stems and seeds removed), 2 tablespoons pickling juice from the hot cherry peppers, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, 1/2 cup crushed garlic croutons

• Preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit
• Place cauliflower florets in a 9x13 baking dish. Add the olive oil and salt and toss, making sure the cauliflower is well coated
• Roast until the edges of the cauliflower beging to brown (about 15 minutes). Toss the cauliflower and continue to roast, tossing every 5 minutes , until tender but firm and well browned all over (about 10 minutes)
• Remove cauliflower from the oven, transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add the cherry peppers, pepper juice and parsley and toss to throughly combine. Sprinkle with the crushed croutons just before serving to ensure that they stay crispy.

Kale Salad

sauce verte

final product

And what good is a birthday without some birthday cake?

Happy Birthday Dawn!