Broccoli Salad

Cuisine: Italian

Cook Time: 50 Minutes

Serves: 7

Broccoli might not be anyone’s all-time favorite food, but a Broccoli Salad? De-li-cious. This quick and easy recipe is a nutritious and delicious meal packed into one basic salad.

Fresh Broccoli: 1 ½ pound
Olive Oil: ⅓ cup
Garlic: 3 cloves, mashed into a paste
Lemon Juice: 2 tablespoons
Rice Vinegar: 2 tablespoons
Dijon mustard: ½ teaspoon
Red Pepper Flakes to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste

Healthy and delicious - broccoli has never tasted better!

Cut off the heads of the broccoli and chop off the bottoms. Divide the heads into quarters; smaller pieces ensure that the dressing covers all of it and each bite is flavorful.
Lightly salt some water and bring it to a boil. On medium heat, cook your chopped broccoli until it is tender but firm. Ideally, if it turns to mush while cutting it, you’ve boiled it a bit too much.
Stop the cooking process by transferring the broccoli bits into cold water. Drain it in a colander for around 30 minutes.
Whisk the garlic, rice vinegar, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper all together in a big salad bowl. Drizzle in olive oil while whisking until the entire mixture thickens.
Adjust the dressing to taste and add in the broccoli. Toss it for a few minutes before letting it marinate in the dressing for 5-6 minutes. Toss it again before serving. You could also serve the salad cold after refrigerating it for an hour.

If you’re looking for ways to up your salad game, a perfectly seasoned Broccoli Salad is definitely the way to go!

Quick Bites

Fun Fact

• There are tiny flower buds in the head of broccoli. If broccoli is not harvested on time, these buds will bloom into yellow flowers.

• These flowers can grow even after harvested, to avoid this broccolis have to be kept in cool temperatures.

Historical Fact

• The term broccoli is derived from an Italian word ‘broccolo’ meaning “the flowering crest of the cabbage” which was in turn derived from the Latin word ‘brachium’ meaning arm or branch.

• The commercial cultivation of broccoli started in the 1500s, although it was introduced to the United States by Italian immigrants only in the early 1920s. The Romans and Greeks ate mixed greens with dressings that are technically similar to today's salads.