http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x66488Oh my.
I say "ruin," because there's only one decent thing one can do with broccoli, making something similar with what the soil scientist made here the other weekend, when she wished to "bribe" me into allowing more research on the William Rivers Pitt.
That was great, excellent, and one can find the recipe--that broccoli, toasted bread crumbs, cheese, and sour cream thing--in one of the stories here about the William Rivers Pitt, a
Jungfrau-like mound 740 cubic yards in size, of antique swine manure, a prominent landmark in the Sandhills of Nebraska.
Anyway.
Vinca (1000+ posts) Thu Jul-02-09 09:06 AM
Original message
Broccoli Salad
I had an abundance of broccoli ready in the garden and threw a salad together. Thought it would be gross, but it was delicious. No measurements, but here are the basic ingredients which are tossed together and dressed with Marzetti slaw dressing: blanched broccoli pieces (florets and smaller stem bits)cooled, chopped walnuts, chopped onions, halved grapes, a little chopped celery and crumbled feta cheese to give it a little saltiness. We ate this for 2 days and it only got better.
ginnyinWI (1000+ posts) Thu Jul-02-09 10:00 AM
Response to Original message
1. Here's the one I use--
It's similar to the broccoli salad you find in the deli department:
2-3 large bunches broccoli
2-3 green onions
6 strips crisp bacon (optional: as a partial vegetarian I substitute sun-dried tomatoes)
1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. mayonnaise
2 tsp. vinegar
2 T. sugar
Dice up the first four ingredients and mix in a bowl. Mix together the last three and pour over veggies and toss. Yum!
Nope, nope, nope.
No onions, and for God's sake, no raisins.
franksolich hasn't done raisins since franksolich was circa four years old, and an older sibling warned him raisins cause freckles. franksolich wouldn't touch a raisin with a ten-foot primitive.
Vinca (1000+ posts) Thu Jul-02-09 01:01 PM
Response to Reply #1
4. Bacon definitely crossed my mind, but I didn't have any in the house.
The empressof all (1000+ posts) Thu Jul-02-09 11:39 AM
Response to Original message
2. The key to my brocolli salad is a very very fine dice
I use my handy dandy chopper and dice it up--Mix it with finely diced cauliflower and green or red onion. Mix in Ranch dressing and you have crudite on a plate. My daughter would never eat brocolli or cauliflower any other way when she was young.
The warped primitive, who needs no introduction:
Warpy (1000+ posts) Thu Jul-02-09 12:14 PM
Response to Original message
3. You blanched the broccoli and that makes all the difference in the world.
Unblanched broccoli always has a nasty, bitter flavor that needs to be disguised by a heavy dressing or dip.
Once you do that step, just about any normal salad combination will work. Yours sounds especially good, a whole meal in a bowl.
grasswire (1000+ posts) Thu Jul-02-09 09:32 PM
Response to Original message
5. sounds yummy
A very nice alternative to the bacon recipe, which I also like a lot.
This makes me wonder about making up other new combinations with broccoli bits.
How about toasted pine nuts, cubed fresh mozzarella, little pasta "ears" and lemon zest-EVOO-vinegar?
How about toasted pigeon droppings?
I'll bet the primitives would insist toasted pigeon droppings are
yummy.
edited to change a past tense to a present tense; sorry for the inconvenience