Insalata di rinforzo

Cauliflower and Pickled Vegetable Salad

This zesty cauliflower salad is a fixture on family tables in Naples during the Christmas season. The salad is called insalata di rinforzo—’reinforcement salad’—is because it was customary in the old days to make a first batch as an antipasto on Christmas Eve and to keep on ‘reinforcing’ it with more cauliflower and condiments over the course of the holiday season, so there would always be some of it on hand up until New Years. And the flavor only gets better as the days go by!

Insalata di rinforzo couldn’t be simpler to make. Cauliflower flowerets are steamed or boiled; their rather bland flavor is complemented with olives, pickled peppers (called papacelle in Naples) and a variety of other pickled vegetables, together other strongly flavored condiments like capers and anchovies, then bathed in fruity olive oil and vinegar in typical Italian style. Every family seems to have its own variation, but here is the most classic recipe.