Skip to main content

Cauliflower and Arugula Honey Sesame Salad

"I just love cauliflower and arugula, but never knew how to put them together. I had several attempts and finally came up with this salad. It's a fusion of citrusy and sweet that explodes in your mouth. This is a perfect appetizer if you are serving roasted chicken or seafood."

Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sesame and honey work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 527 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl pentanoate, which smells yeast, fruit. The science ↓

The recipe

6 servings
Prep20 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Contains: soy, sesame (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring, until golden. Add 1 tablespoon honey and stir for 30 seconds to coat. Transfer to a plate to cool.

  2. Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cauliflower florets, ground turmeric, salt and black pepper. Add a splash of water, cover, and cook 6 to 8 minutes until tender-crisp.

  3. Add the sweet corn to the skillet and cook uncovered for 2 minutes, stirring. Spread the cauliflower and corn on a plate to cool to room temperature.

  4. Whisk together 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup lemon juice, minced garlic, the remaining 1 tablespoon honey, vinegar, Dijon mustard, soy sauce if using, salt and black pepper.

  5. In a large bowl, combine the arugula, parsley, green onions and oregano if using. Add the cooled cauliflower and corn.

  6. Pour about two-thirds of the dressing over the salad and toss gently to combine. Sprinkle with the honey sesame seeds and serve, passing the remaining dressing at the table.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Sesame + honeytop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together527 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl pentanoate (yeast, fruit).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together34,118 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Cauliflower + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together514 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turmeric + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Olive + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together8,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cauliflower, olive, corn, sesame, honey, turmeric, pepper):

  1. Gingerbetter flavor fit
  2. Cuminbetter flavor fit
  3. Corianderbetter flavor fit
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cauliflower, olive, corn, sesame, honey, turmeric, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).