Broccoli Salad

I live out in the middle of nowhere, so sometimes I have to substitute ingredients, because driving to Seattle or Tacoma takes up too much time.  As usual, all the extraneous jibber jabber is at the bottom of the recipe.  Make as little or as much as you want.

Broccoli Salad 

Lightly Blanched Broccoli cut into one-bite sized pieces.  (Pictured, about a pound)

To blanch the broccoli, cut into one-bite sized pieces, put water into a pot and get it to a boil with salt.  Drop the broccoli into the pot and allow the broccoli to boil for a minute or two; you'll begin to see the color change to a brighter color.  At that point, drain the broccoli and then shock it in an ice bath.  Drain thoroughly and place into a mixing bowl.

Halve cherry or grape tomatoes; my preference is to make it as colorful as possible by choosing the multi-colored cherry tomatoes.  It's up to you how many or how few you wish to use.  I use a container full because I happen to love tomatoes.

Halve cherry-sized mozzarella balls (Ciliegine).  I use a full container.

Julienne red onion.  I use a half onion

1 Bell pepper, color of your choice, julienne.

4 oz package dried cherry, raisins, dried fig or pitted dates.  (Shown here, dried cherry)

Fresh Basil, about 5 sprigs or more, cut chiffonade.  [Watch a video on chiffonade cuts]

4 oz pepitas, sunflower seeds, pinenuts, or whatever nuts you prefer.  (Shown here, pecans)

Sea Salt and coarse black pepper to taste

Fig balsamic and Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  1:1 ratio, enough to toss all ingredients together, about 1/2 cup each.

Other optional ingredients that I recommend, but not shown because I'm feeding people that may not necessarily like the ingredients:

• White Anchovies (these are found in the refrigerated section of the seafood department.  They are in a small container and generally held in oil and lemon juice.
• Caper berries.
• Cucumbers.
• Fresh croutons using garlic, rosemary and olive oil on fresh baguette, baked at 350 degrees.  If you put the fresh crouton in this salad, it will be a mess.  I prefer to a moderate toasting, so they're still soft in the middle.  That way, if people prefer to have more of a panzanella style salad, they may do so, while allowing those that are gluten-free to still enjoy the salad.
• Substitute the broccoli for broccolini or rapini.  Rapini can be very bitter, however.

Salad holds up for a couple of days in refrigeration.

Fig Balsamic can be a little bit of a chore to find at typical grocery stores, especially if you live in a rural area.  This lends a little bit more of a natural sweetness to the dish that helps to cut through the mild bitterness of the broccoli.  This is the Fig Balsamic that I recommend.

I made this as a side salad for Christmas dinner this year.  We went with Spaghetti and Meatballs with a red sauce and a besciamella with roasted mushrooms as a spoon-over.  I really liked the way the dried cherries added a different type of sweetness.  Your family will love this, provided that they aren't picky.