The recipe of this vibrantly yellow salad may not originate in Italy, but the addition of the Fregola Sarda gives it an Italian twist that I think it deserves the title Italian Cauliflower Salad.
Break or cut the cauliflower into florets and put them in a pan and just cover water. Add salt, bay levaes and turmeric. Bring the water to a boil and cook cauliflower for a few minutes. You want the vegetable to be a little softer than raw, but not fully cooked. Drain, remove bay leaves and rinse with cold water to slow down the cooking of the cauliflower. Set aside.
In the meantime, transfer pine-nuts on a baking sheet and place in cold oven. Heat oven to 350 degrees F and remove when nuts are toasted golden, about 3-5 minutes. This is about the time for the oven to get to 350 degrees.
Boil water and salt and add fregola sarda and cook according to directions on the packaging. Drain and rinse under cold water to lower the temperature of the pasta.
Transfer lemon juice to a bowl, add yellow raisins and warm in microwave for a few seconds. Set aside, allow raisins to absorb some of the liquid. Drain, but keep juice and mix with olive oil, white wine, salt and pepper to make a simple vinaigrette.
Chop the parsley and set aside.
TIme to mix the salad. Combine cauliflower, raisins and fregola sarda in a bowl, add vinaigrette and mix. Add salt and pepper to taste and mix again. Divide over plates or bowl and sprinkle with pine nuts and parsley.