RECIPE: A broccoli salad base

Editor’s note: Thanks to a grant from the Local Food Promotion Program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Berkshire Agricultural Ventures, which supports local farms and food businesses, has partnered with Berkshire Organics, a Pittsfield-based business which operates a home delivery service to make locally produced, nutrient-dense, delicious food accessible to every home in the Berkshires. The Edge is happy to support the promotion of local food and to present an article by Shaun Opperman, co-owner with his wife of Berkshire Organics. Because he spends his days coordinating with farmers, ranchers, bakers, and food artisans to source the highest-quality and most interesting ingredients the Berkshires has to offer, his cooking style revolves around our region’s offerings at any given moment.

When I say salad, your mind might immediately go to a bowl of lettuce greens with some raw sliced veggies floating on top. But of course, the concept of salad is vast. Pasta salad, bean salad, shaved cabbage salads, potato salads, and zucchini salads. Spinach salad, chickpea salad, kale salad. You get the point. Add the word “salad” after any seasonal vegetable, and you’ve got a framework to understand your way through a big, delicious bowl of that vegetable, somehow the “salad” modifier makes it feel a bit more intentional.

My wife and I operate a local produce delivery service, and though running a small business (not to mention the raising-a-family bit) is all-consuming, there’s one obvious perk that usually sticks out to me at around 6 p.m., when my stomach is grumbling, and I peer into our fridge: seasonal vegetables. For many reasons, I’m always bringing home extra produce. Sometimes it’s because a veggie is cosmetically damaged, and I don’t want to deliver it to a customer, and sometimes it’s because the farmer we’re working with had extra and just wanted me to try the new succession of carrots, the Brix level out of control. Still other times, it’s very intention—I love to eat the food we bring in and place a weekly order to stock our family’s fridge. In fact, my passion for eating local, nutrient-dense produce is what nudged me to take over Berkshire Organics back in 2018 … but that’s a story for another day.

Back to the salad. The vegetable that has unwittingly become the anchor of most of our summer salads is broccoli. Broccoli salads, all ways. To compose a great salad, you need an anchor, you need texture, and you need a dressing to coat each element and bring some cohesion. Broccoli—both the florets as well as the stems—is a great and sturdy anchor, and broccoli salads feel heartier than a salad plate piled with delicate leaves. There’s a toothsome quality to a good broccoli salad that we love. Broccoli salad also works well in our life: starting with a bowl of finely diced raw broccoli or even leftover roasted broccoli is a great home for whatever else needs using up—the random handful of nuts left over from morning oatmeal, the half an onion from last night’s pasta, a small wedge of cheese. Also, broccoli salads make great leftovers, or next-overs … carrying into the following day, and picking up whatever other ingredient-hitchhikers need a home.

A bit about the recipe: my favorite way to dress a broccoli salad is with a punchy vinaigrette, but I know that most broccoli salads call for a creamier dressing. The best part about this broccoli salad recipe is that it can stand up to a few days in the fridge, and a few “Day 2” iterations. My wife, Amanda, prefers a creamier broccoli salad. With a container of my salad waiting in the fridge, she can “doctor” it up in less than 5 minutes. Read the recipe below, and you’ll see that I’ve got a list of suggestions for things that you could easily add to this broccoli salad to best match your taste buds or just for some Day 2 variation.


Ingredients:

Dressing:

• ½ cup red onion, finely diced (about half an onion)
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar (balsamic also works nicely)
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
• Sea Salt + Freshly Cracked Pepper to taste (I like the Real Salt brand of salt)
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil (The Bizalion’s we carry in the shop is incredible!)
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil, or an additional tablespoon of olive oil

Salad:

• ½ cup dried fruit like golden Sultana raisins, cranberries, or tart red cherries. Larger dried fruit like dates, apricots, or figs would also work well. If using a larger dried fruit, chop into small (raisin-sized) bits.
• 2 crowns of broccoli
• 1 apple (or pear, or even kohlrabi bulb!), unpeeled, cut into ½ inch cubes
• 4 slender green onions/scallions, or 1-2 (larger) spring onions, white and green parts finely sliced
• ½ cup toasted *nuts like walnuts or almonds, chopped. If you wanted the salad to lean sweet, you could even add some Tierra Farm Maple Glazed Walnuts.

Directions:

1. Begin the dressing by mixing 2 tablespoons of water with vinegar, maple, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Add diced red onion to the dressing, and let the vinegar-onion mixture rest (and the onion mellow) while you prep the rest of the salad.
2. If you’re using raisins for dried cherries and the fruit is particularly hard, soak in a small bowl of warm water. (Skip this step if it feels fussy or if your dried fruit is good to go!)
3. Peel the broccoli stems, discard the tough peels, and dice the stalks into small cubes. Chop the florets into small, similarly sliced pieces. Transfer to a large bowl.
4. After about 10 minutes, finish the dressing by adding the oils to the vinegar-onion mixture, whisking or stirring till emulsified. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt, pepper or maple if needed. Drain the dried fruit if relevant, discarding the soaking water.
5. Add the dried fruit, onion dressing, apple, and scallions to the broccoli and mix well so that everything is coated with your punchy onion vinaigrette. Season with more salt and pepper, as needed.
6. When you’re ready to eat, add your *nuts, and enjoy.
7. Repeat your broccoli salad experience, perhaps with some “Day 2 Additions”

Day 2 Additions to your Broccoli Salad. Consider adding:

• A dollop of yogurt
• A swirl of mayonnaise
• Some green goddess dressing
• Grated sharp cheddar
• Sauteed shallots
• Bacon
• Warm Pita or grilled hunks of bread – make it a fattoush!
• A can of cannellini beans or chickpeas
• Serve it over a plate of hummus with a dollop of garlicky yogurt or labneh
• Add additional crunchy veggies like grated carrots, shaved cabbage, julienned kohlrabi, or sliced radishes.
• Fresh fruit like diced peaches, grapes, or blueberries

*If you’re making this salad to eat immediately, go ahead and add the nuts. If you plan to munch on this salad for a few days, I recommend keeping the nuts separate and just topping each serving with the nuts. This way, they’ll remain crunchy.

Notes: To make this salad with even less fuss, you could skip the homemade dressing and grab a bottle of Appalachian Naturals’ pre-made dressings. For a vinegar-lover like myself, I’d choose the Italian Hemp. It’s awesome on just about anything. Amanda would likely choose the blue cheese or Caesar, also delicious picks.