Eat Your Greens!

Recently, a friend raved about something called broccoli slaw. Personally, I am not a huge fan of slaw. Sure, slap some on top of a pulled pork bbq sandwich and I am in. Otherwise, it's typically a side dish I'll pass on. However, I was intrigued by this new fangled version. I've also been craving everything fresh veggie and fruit wise...if I had a garden in my backyard, I would just go out there right now with a fork and a knife. I decided to try it out. My friend Liz referenced Smitten Kitchen and her recipe. I slightly adapted her version but kudos goes to her. She made me enjoy love slaw.

oh green, how I have missed you.

they always make me cry.

On a side note, tricks I learned when googling how not to cry when cutting onions: refrigerate/freeze your onion beforehand for 20 or so minutes, chop under cold water so the vapors will go down the drain or just plain wear goggles. I also learned that George Washington used to eat an onion as a cold remedy, that the largest onion ever grown was 10 lbs and 14 ounces, and something I already knew but maybe you don't yet, is that the Vidalia Onion is the state vegetable of Georgia. Shout-out to Mandi's kin-folk, who hail from Vidalia.

it's so pretty.

The recipe I used is pretty much the same as hers:

2 heads of broccoli
1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds, toasted (I used walnuts, just as good)
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped

Buttermilk Dressing 
1/2 cup buttermilk, well-shaken
1/3 cup sour cream (she used mayonnaise, I just can't get behind that..)
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot 

(These are her directions)

Trim broccoli and cut it into large chunks. From here, you can either feed it through your food processor’s slicing blade, use a mandoline to cut it into thin slices, or simply had chop it into smaller pieces. I used the stem and the flowerets, but if you have a broccoli stem aversion you can just use the tops.

Toss the sliced broccoli with the almonds, cranberries and red onion in a large bowl. Meanwhile, whisk the dressing ingredients in a smaller one, with a good pinch of salt and black pepper. Pour the dressing over the broccoli (if you’ve skipped the stems, you might not want it all; I otherwise found this to be the perfect amount) and toss it well. Season well with salt and pepper to taste.

Should keep up to a week in the fridge.

I will definitely make this sometime again soon. On Smitten, she talks about a possible variation with cauliflower and currants. I am not a huge fan of cauliflower but she's made me a believer out of this slaw, why not try some other combos? Look forward to some more creative salads and slaws coming up, it's SPRING TIME!


-a