Cauliflower salad with warm parma ham and orange dressing

Ok, I admit that this may not be the prettiest cauliflower dish you have ever seen but believe me, you might want to trade looks for taste here. This is good stuff, folks. My brother in law gave the Boyfriend a huge chunk of the finest Schwarzwälder Schinken (dry-cured ham from the Schwarzwald region in Southern Germany) for his birthday (a very manly gift, indeed) so ham pops up here and there in our food. I put some in the cannelloni filling I made the other day to very subtly enhance the ragù's taste. But back to cauliflower. I had one in my fridge and wanted to make something a little different with it. This is the result.

Cauliflower salad with warm parma ham and orange dressing (serves 2)

• one cauliflower head, washed and cut into florets
• 2 tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
• 1 small handfull shaved almonds, toasted
• 2 thick slices dry-cured ham, diced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• salt and freshly ground pepper

Steam the cauliflower until soft and put in a shallow dish. Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan and fry the ham for 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the orange juice, vinegar, garlic and parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Scatter the tomaotes and almonds over the cauliflower and drizzle with the dressing. Let stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes in order for the flavours to develop.