Carla’s Broccoli Nut Salad

My new favorite salad! There’s always a quandary in my house when serving broccoli. My younger son won’t touch it. My older son only wants it raw. My husband only wants it steamed. However, our school’s Vice President, Carla, brought this to our Thanksgiving Day celebration. So, it’s kind of a combination. It’s blanched. I modified only slightly by mentioning other vinegar and nut suggestions. Balsamic is my favorite, but much to my surprise, the raspberry-flavor really made this salad special.

Ingredients:

2-3 lbs Broccoli
Olive Oil
Raspberry Vinegar (Balsamic and Wine Vinegar work, too.)
Toasted Nuts (can use pine, walnut or pecan – or omit all together)

Directions:

Chop broccoli.
Bring pan of water to boil.
Prepare bowl of ice water.
Boil broccoli for one minute.
Drain and add immediately to ice water.
Sit for 5-10 minutes until completely cool.
Drain and dry broccoli.
Sprinkle toasted nuts over broccoli.
Mix equal amounts of oil and vinegar together and pour over salad. Toss and serve.
Toasted Nuts:
1/2 c. Nuts (slivered almonds, pine)1 1/2 T. Butter
1/2 t. Garlic Salt
1/2 t. Dill Weed

Melt butter. Stir in dill weed and garlic salt. Add nuts and coat with butter mixture. Toast under un pre-heated broiler until brown (3-5 minutes). Be careful, as they move from brown to burnt very quickly! Cool.

This was so good, I decided to include it as a standard dish for our own family Thanksgiving celebration. Thank you Carla!