Paleo Broccoli Salad

My mother in law was a good cook. She didn’t cook a lot of fancy shmancy stuff but her food was always tasty and my kids grew up, like many, with plenty of memories of favourites served up by the Gramma Lady.

One of the Gramma Lady’s favourite salads to bring to my mostly potluck family dinners was a classic raw broccoli salad. You know the one; broccoli, tomatoes and bacon with a creamy vinaigrette dressing. 

I recently had a bag of pre-cut broccoli florets in the fridge. Actually I almost always have a bag of broccoli lately – I love the convenience. To me anything that makes getting some more veggies into my day easier is a win. Bagged salad greens – love em! Anyway, I usually just sauté florets up in a bit of coconut amino and some ginger sesame seasoning but I was recently reminded of Gramma’s raw broccoli salad and decided that I should make that instead.

The commercial mayonnaise in the original recipe is full of canola oil and sugar so homemade mayo was in order. If you’ve never made your own mayo, it is really easy – most of the time. I set out to make a quick batch with my immersion blender so I’d have the foundational ingredient for my salad ready to go.

I’ve made this recipe several times and have never had it fail, until now. Rather than blending up into a nice creamy emulsified mayo, I ended up with a thin and separated mixture. Arggh!

Oh well, I figured I was mixing it with vinegar, which would thin it out anyway, so decided to just keep going and use it anyway. It was fine and in fact may become my perfect plan B should the mayo ever fail again. Unless you need the creamy, spreadable body of real mayonnaise, like you plan to spread it on a sammy, the flavour and ingredients in failed mayo are still totally useable for a salad dressing.

The salad? It was a huge hit – every last bite was eaten up. Twice.

{Paleo} Broccoli Salad

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Servings: 4

Author: www.miasdailydish.com

A classic raw broccoli salad made entirely from whole foods

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Ingredients

For the salad

• 4 C raw broccoli florets cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 C cherry tomatoes cut in half
• 1/2 C yellow bell pepper
• 3 slices bacon cooked crispy and chopped
• 1 Tbsp raw sunflower seeds or slivered almonds optional

For the dressing

• 1/3 Cup homemade mayonnaise
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 shallot minced
• 1 tsp honey
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Mix all dressing ingredients well in a small bowl or measuring cup
2. Wash broccoli florets and place in large salad bowl
3. Add tomatoes and bell pepper, tossing well
4. Top with crisp bacon and sunflower seeds if using
5. Season once dressed with a little fresh ground sea salt and pepper

Recipe Notes

The original version of this salad calls for raisins. If you'd like to add them 1/4 cup is lots. You could also substitute dried cranberries or even goji berries if desired.

Adapted from Kraft Foods