The perfect winter salad.

It's so typically me to taste something somewhere and become so obsessed with having it again I can't even hear the person next to me because I'm already figuring out the recipe + ingredients in my head.

This was the case when a friend and I had a little road trip last weekend to do some shopping and lunching.  Both of us being non-wheat non-dairy eating weirdos, we decided a safe bet was a local whole foods to find some snacks.  I'm usually super weary of the cold bar at whole foods because I find most things to have a weird, tangy aftertaste that I'd like to think DIDN'T get there from waiting around too long.   HOWEVER, they had a version of this salad that was so good we both immediately panicked at first bite thinking we didn't get enough.  Yes, my friends are my soul mates.  

When I got home it was all I could think about (that and my new shirt).  The next morning it was all I could think about.  I'm going to the store.  I bought the ingredients with a few tweaks I thought could only improve it and oh did I.  I ate this for lunch that day, lunch the next then went out to buy the ingredients again to have it today.  It's the perfect balance of toasty, nutty cauliflower, chewy, sweet figs, tangy, bright vinegar and salt, smokey pork.  For a vegetarian option a moroccan cured olive would be a great stand in for the meat plus another hearty vegetable to bulk it up wouldn't hurt if you wanna.

Roasted Cauliflower Salad w/Smoked Proscuitto + Dried Fig

1 head cauliflower, chopped into bite sized florets
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs cumin
handful dried figs, roughly chopped
1/3 cup (or so) of chopped smoked proscuitto (speck, salami, any salty cured meat)
splash of good balsamic vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 400.  Toss cauliflower with olive oil and cumin and a good couple pinches of salt.

2. Roast on parchment lined baking sheet for 15 min or until tender and browned.

3. Add to bowl and toss with remaining ingredients.  Garnish with fresh

parsley or nothing because you wanna dig in so badly.