Broccolini Salad (page 144)

The first recipe we made from the book was the broccolini salad (sort of). We had to change it, quite a bit actually. The original recipe called for all broccolini. When we got to the store a tiny bunch of broccoli was almost $3 dollars. Since we didn’t want to buy $20 dollars worth of broccolini we decided to turn the salad into a three-broccoli salad by using broccolini, broccoli rabe and long stemmed broccoli. We thought that by combining the three vegetables we would get a nice flavor and textural combination it worked really well. Our salad was mostly broccoli rabe and broccoli with a little broccolini, but we all liked it.

We also used far less olive oil than the recipe. If you want to see the original sherry vinaigrette it is found on page 179 of the book. Since we wanted to keep as much of the vitamins in the vegetables as possible we lightly blanched the vegetables to retain as much nutrition as we could. Additionally we used the black oil cured olives in this recipe to add as much flavor as possible. Here is the three-broccoli salad we made on Wednesday.

Three Broccoli Salad in Sherry Vinaigrette with Red Onions, Olives and Crimini Mushrooms
Serves 12

Ingredients:

1 bunch long stemmed broccoli (2.75 pounds), cut into long thin spears
1 bunch broccoli rabe (about 1 lb), cut into long thin bundles
1 bunch broccolini (about 1 lb), cut into long thin bundles
½ small red onion sliced paper-thin (use mandoline if possible)
4 ounces crimini mushrooms sliced paper-thin (use mandoline if possible)
1 cup oil cured black olives, pits removed and thinly sliced

Salad Dressing Ingredients:

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
pinch of salt, if necessary

Directions:

Blanch the broccoli, broccoli rabe, and broccolini individually until just tender. Leave the stalks long as it makes a prettier presentation. Place cooked veggies in an ice water bath and then drain thoroughly when cool.

Mix dressing in bottom of a big bowl and whisk until combined. Put broccoli combination in salad dressing and toss to coat with the dressing. Toss onion, mushrooms and olives with the broccoli mixture. Refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to marry.

Serve cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 71.59
Calories From Fat (36%) - 26.13

Total Fat - 3.06g
Saturated Fat - 0.42g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 146.56mg
Potassium - 526.48mg
Total Carbohydrates - 9.25g
Fiber - 2.25g
Sugar - 0.54g
Protein - 4.94g

Comments:

This salad has a remarkably big flavor. I loved the mixture of different vegetables and now would only make it with the three different forms of broccoli. The flavor of this salad definitely improved with age. The color of broccoli did get muddier from the dressing and the olives by day two and three but the flavor was excellent.

Each serving of this salad contains approximately 4,550IU of vitamin A, 115mg of vitamin C, 130mg of calcium, 2.3mg of iron, 130mcg of folate, 110mcg of vitamin K, 120mg of phosphorus, 40mg of magnesium and 6mcg of selenium.

This is salad was my favorite recipe from what we made on Wednesday. I enjoyed them all, but this one was so quick and tasty it stood out to me as something I would make again and again. It would make a perfect picnic salad or something to pack in lunches during the week. If you like broccoli and olives this is a really tasty salad.