Broccoli Slaw

If you happen to follow along on facebook or instagram, then you saw some gorgeous broccoli that was brought to me from my neighbors who happen to also be the farmers responsible for Two Happy Children Farm. These are the same fine folks from whom I procured my bulk purchase of artichokes and launched me into an artichoke extravaganza (Yes, yes we did eat 30 artichokes over the course of a week. Well, not exactly true as I pickled some and those are still in the fridge. But who's counting.) With 3 large heads of broccoli at hand, what's a gal to do? Then I remembered a great slaw we'd had during a visit to Port A (Port Aransas, Texas). We had picked up some fried chicken and sides from a chicken shack on Alister St. The chicken wasn't remarkable, but one of the sides was a broccoli slaw. Up until that point, all of the slaws I'd had were the standard cabbage. This broccoli slaw was a mixture of broccoli and cabbage with a sweet and tangy mayonnaise based dressing tossed with raisins and nuts. A nice combination that would make an appropriate spring side to go along with grilled pork ribs.

Broccoli Slaw

• 2 heads of broccoli 
• 1/2 C purple onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 C raisins 
• 1/4 C sunflower kernels (The garlic flavored from Buc-ee's *  that I had on hand from our last   shopping spree pit stop worked pretty well.)
• 1/2 C mayo
• 3 Tbsp of rice vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp sugar

1. Cut broccoli into smallish florets and stems into small chunks. Lightly steam the broccoli to set a bright green color and to lightly cook. (I'm not a fan of raw broccoli at all, if you are, you can skip this.) 
2. In a large bowl make the dressing: whisk together the mayo, vinegar, soy sauce and sugar. 
3. Stir in the onion, raisins and sunflower kernels. Add the cooled broccoli and toss to coat with the dressing and add-ins. Chill in fridge until ready to serve.

Notes: 

• I like to steam vegetables using the microwave as it is super quick and easy and uses very little energy or water. Place the broccoli in a microwave safe dish with about a 1/4-1/2 in water in the bottom. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and microwave for right about 2 minutes. The broccoli will be a nice bright green rather than the blue/grey green when it is raw and will cook it just enough to soften it but still retain its crispness.
• If you don't have sunflower seeds, nuts (roasted and salted) of any type, but especially almonds,  would be a fine substitution.
• Crispy fried bacon bits could be added to gild the lily.

This slaw was delicious with my daughter commenting it was the best she's had. The sweet-tart dressing, the sweetness of the raisins, the salty nuttiness of the sunflower kernels and the sharpness of the purple onion are fabulous when mixed with fresh, crisp broccoli. 

Happy Cooking!

sld

* For those of you who are not from around here, Buc-ee's is chain of convenience stores in the Gulf Coast and Central regions of Texas. It can be described as nothing short of fabulous. The location we frequent is in New Braunfels and as of this writing it is the largest convenience store in the world with 67K sq ft of store, 60 gas pumps & the best restrooms in the US (2012) as rated by Cintas. In addition to its enormity, it has a vast array of delicious food items including your standard convenience store fare along with a rather astonishing selection of private label items and even some things that could be found in specialty/gourmet shops. I'm not ashamed to say I love the place & that is where I picked up those garlic sunflower kernels on my last trip home to my parents' place in the Hill Country.

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