Broccoli Salad

When I first got out on my own, the only things I knew how to cook were desserts. I still don't view this as a problem, but the logical side of me said I needed to learn how to make SOMETHING of substance. Especially since my life includes a lot of carry-in dinners. So....my mother gave me her recipe for broccoli salad. I realize the news that this is one of my favorite salads may come as a shock to those of you who know of my distaste for vegetables. But this one has enough of the good stuff in it to mask the taste of veggies.

One Sunday I took this as my contribution to the church carry-in dinner (at my old church) and they ate every last bite! No leftovers for Bekah. It soon became necessary for me to bring a double batch of broccoli salad to every dinner if I wanted to be permitted to enter and eat. I've heard, now that I attend a different church, that others have jumped in to make this in my absence. (Sounds better than in my memory.)

I will admit this is one of the more expensive and time consuming dishes I make. Normally if something takes very long or costs very much, I refuse to make it. But this one is worth the hassle now and then. And since Christmas is just a week away...I thought I'd share it with you...just in case you need one more dish to round out your Christmas meal.

Recipe:


1 large bunch of fresh broccoli

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup chopped onion

10 slices bacon - cooked and crumbled

sunflower seeds (optional)

1/2 cup Miracle Whip

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon vinegar

Chop broccoli and onion; mix together. About four hours before serving, mix the Miracle Whip, sugar, and vinegar, pour over broccoli and onion. Immediately before serving, add bacon, sunflower seeds and raisins.


The first time I ever made this, the only vinegar I had was white vinegar, so that's what I used. Turns out most people like it better than regular vinegar. People often ask me what's different about my broccoli salad...and that usually seems to be the key. I've also learned to use actual, fully loaded with fat Mircale Whip in this. No low fat/fat-free. No off brand.



Frying the bacon...takes FOREVER. It also creates a greasy mess in my kitchen. Just ask my sister about the time we made this together at 10 pm when my kitchen light didn't work. I kept checking the bacon with a flashlight. But someone taught me this trick which works well for salad purposes. I have a small bar pan from Pampered Chef and I load it up with as much bacon as it will hold. I cover it with paper towel and stick it in the microwave for 3-4 minutes or until it appears to be cooked thoroughly. The paper towel catches any spatter and the sides of the bar pan keep the grease from running through the microwave. The pan gets very hot, so use a pot holder to remove the pan from the microwave.


Here is the cooked bacon. Being the meatatarian that I am, I always put in more bacon than the recipe calls for. I usually start the bacon when I start chopping the broccoli and that saves time. It can cook while I chop!


After the bacon has cooked, I transfer it to a plate covered in paper towel to drain off some of the grease. Then I pour the remaining grease into a leftover pot-pie pan, which I save for just such occasions. Once the pan is full and the grease hardens, I toss it. I put a new layer of bacon on the bar pan and toss it back in the microwave for the next round!

I use a food chopper for my broccoli, so I begin by cutting the bunch into smaller pieces on a cutting board. I can just move my chopper from bunch to bunch and chop it all up. Then I can dump the cutting board into the bowl.

If I did not have a food chopper, I would never make this recipe. I'd probably chop off my finger trying to cut the broccoli by hand...plus I just don't have enough patience to chop it up into such fine pieces without the chopper. Mine is actually a Tupperware chopper, but I couldn't find it on their site, so here's the similar one from Pampered Chef. This is great for working out frustrations! You just put the chopper over the broccoli and the plunger goes down and chops for you!

And when I say I want the broccoli in fine little pieces, I mean FINE LITTLE PIECES!

Once I'm done chopping the broccoli, I move on to chopping the onion. I don't really measure the onion. I just chop however much I think I want. I use the chopper for it too, which helps reduce tears. :) I don't bother with washing the chopper first. If broccoli guts get on the onion, it's okay. They're all going in the same bowl anyway!

I usually make the salad (the time consuming part) the night before I need it. There are some parts you don't want to add at this time. So normally what I do is chop the broccoli and the onion, mix them together in the bowl and put them in the refrigerator overnight. Once the bacon has cooked, I crumble it up and put it in a storage dish in the refrigerator. The next morning (about 4 hours before serving, I mix up the dressing. It will be soupy.

Put the dressing over the broccoli/onion part and mix it up. As it marinates in the fridge, the sugar will begin to break down and it will look more like a salad. (That's why it's important to give it a few hours and not put this on right as you're serving it. The broccoli won't absorb it unless you give it some time.)

Right before serving, I add the bacon, the sunflower seeds, and the raisins. (Although I hate raisins, so sometimes I skip them altogether.) That is another key of the salad - don't put in the bacon too soon or it will be soggy.

This salad really only keeps nicely for about a day once it's assembled. After that it starts to get watery and soggy.