Thursday, April 1, 2010

Broccoli Salad

Broccoli is a tricky plant to grow. It take like 75 days to mature, lots of rodents find it tasty, it goes to seed quickly (don't wait for it to look like the huge crowns at the grocery store) and it can't take the heat (which means it's time to harvest what is left soon because the temperatures are rising around here). I haven't had much success, but will try again next year. For those of you that are at harvest time, or are finding it for a good price this time of year, you gotta try my version of broccoli salad.

I like a bit of interest in my broccoli salad opposed to the common super sweet mayonnaise and bacon salad with a few pieces of broccoli. Also, a quick blanch brings out the color and softens the texture slightly. Make sure you dry it thoroughly though, otherwise it will get quite soupy. Pomegranates are a pain, but worth it here for the tart crunch. If you must, sub quartered grapes or dried cranberries. And as always, homemade mayonnaise is required.

6 cups fresh broccoli cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 cup soaked and dehydrated pecans, chopped
1/4 cup sliced and cooked pancetta or bacon
1/4 cup chopped red onion
seeds of 1 medium pomegranate
2/3 cup homemade mayonnaise
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup raw honey
1 teaspoon salt

Blanche broccoli by bringing a large pot of water to a boil. Add the broccoli florets for 15 seconds, then remove from boiling water. Pour ice water over broccoli to stop the cooking. Spin dry in salad spinner or on paper towels. Combine broccoli, pecans, pancetta, onions and pomegranate, toss with dressing and refrigerate 1 hour before serving.


links; Whole Foods for the Holiday's

4 comments:

  1. This looks really good. I LOVE brocoli salad, and this will be so much better for me than anything else I have tried! YES!

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  2. i had the same problem with my broccoli last year. i had high hopes of a never-ending broccoli crop--and that our family was going to be the healthiest family on the block because we would have it coming out of our ears! but sadly, i got like three stalks of broccoli from my five plants, and they went to seed.
    i kept trimming them down, which helped, but broccoli was not an easy plant to grow :( makes me sad.
    i love this salad you have here. i go crazy at sweet tomatoes with their broccoli salad. it has cashews and raisins. YUMMY. cant wait to try this.

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  3. Looks so yummy! I wouldl love to come over sometime to have a lesson on the mayo. I have heard several people not having success and wasting all that olive oil...
    Kindof scared to try...

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  4. For sure! I wish I knew all the tricks, but you are welcome to come over and watch me do it.

    ReplyDelete

It's rude to eat and run. Humor me with conversation please!

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