Broccolini Salad Recipe
Big bowl of green - broccolini tossed with big croutons, tons of scallion slices, mozzarella, toasted almonds, and a hit of serrano pepper.
I think we've discussed this before. My friend Malinda has a real knack for making salads. Remember the shaved fennel beauty in Super Natural Every Day? That was hers. We were at her house for dinner the other night and she made a broccolini salad I parked just to the right of my wine glass. Must have had three servings. There were blanched lengths of broccolini, big shards of homemade croutons, creamy pockets of burrata, and toasted almond slices.
It was one of those relatively simple preparations that reminded me of how good certain things are. Sometimes I forget big, rustic homemade croutons are worth making. And mozzarella? It's great in salads - it doesn't have to be summer, and you don't have to include tomatoes. Things like that. Ideas like these get pushed out of my brain from time to time. And its nice to get reminders.
We chatted in the kitchen before dinner about dressing for the salad (and broccoli/broccolini in general). Malinda mentioned she likes to accent hers with a bit of anchovy when there aren't vegetarians around. I told her I often do the lemon zest/red pepper flake combo when I'm throwing broccoli together on a weeknight. And as that sentence was coming out of my mouth, I thought, wow, what a yawn. Surely I can come up with something more interesting than red pepper flakes the next time around.
So I kept thinking about it. On the walk home, up the stairs, brushing teeth....The image of a big pile of, whispy, thinly sliced scallions kept popping into my head. So, that's the direction I went when I made this for lunch the other day. I spiked it with some minced serrano pepper, and loaded it with toasted almonds as well. Thanks for the inspiration M :)!
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Broccolini Salad
I made a meal of this by introducing a hard boiled egg - on the side. That said, you could chop and sprinkle one over each plate. Or you could work some chopped egg into the dressing. I have you make more dressing than you'll likely use, in part because it's nice to have a bit of leftover on hand throughout the week. You can try to use burrata cheese here in place of the mozzarella - as a treat. Just know it can be a bit tricky though, hit or miss. Sometimes it looses all structure, which makes it difficult to work into a salad like this.
1 lb / 16 oz / 450 g baby broccoli / broccolini, trimmed, and each stalk halved if you like
3 bunches scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 small serrano chile pepper, deveined, seeded and minced (opt)
1/2 cup / 120 ml extra virgin olive oil
fine grain sea salt
3 big handfuls of big, rustic croutons
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
1 cup / 4 oz / 115 g sliced almonds, toasted
4 - 6 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, torn into big chunks
Fill a big pot with water and bring to a boil. Salt the water well and cook the broccolini briefly, about a minute, or long enough to take a bit of the snap out of the stalks. Drain, run under cold water to stop the cooking, and pat dry with a clean cloth. Set aside.
Combine the scallions, serrano pepper, olive oil, and a couple pinches of salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a sizzle, stirring all the while, and remove from heat. Stir in a squeeze of lemon juice.
To assemble the salad, just before serving, place the broccolini and croutons in a large serving bowl. Scoop about 1/2 of the green onions into the bowl, allowing most of the oil to drain off. Toss well and continue to add more green onions until everything is coated to your liking. Have a taste at this point to get a sense of whether you need to adjust the seasoning at all - with more salt or lemon juice. Add the almonds and toss, then one last (gentle) toss after adding the mozzarella.
Use the leftover oil (refrigerate) to cook eggs, drizzled over potatoes, drizzled into soup, etc.
Serves 4 - 6.
Prep time: 10 minutes - Cook time: 10 minutes
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Comments
Hi Heidi, So happy you liked the salad. Your version is a lot prettier, and I love the idea of scallions, will try that next time. This is also one of my favorite summer salads, lovely with all kinds of heirloom tomatoes in place of the broccolini, and even bigger croutons!
HS: Thanks Malinda - I think your cheese was better! The burrata I bought was really loose - I switched up to regular mozzarella at the last minute.
Beautiful! May I borrow your kitchen for a day? The other day I went and bought a marble finish wall paper which I think I'm gonna use on my dining table for some photography experiments!
I adore broccoli and also enjoy using it in salads….your salad looks quite inviting and I’m sure tastes very good.
I'm feeling quite exciting about trying this with purple sprouting broccoli which is all over my local farmers market at the moment and which I just love. Thanks for the idea!
Yet another recipe that I want to try right away!
this looks soooo good. i'm making this!!
This sounds great and looks beautiful. A wonderful meal for an early spring day! Thank you!
Sounds great...and thanks for the reminder of the farro salad...made it a lot last year after you posted. One of my favorites!
This sounds so yummy! Anything with burrata!
This sounds so spot on for what I'm craving right now! I think I might just make this for Easter this Sunday... I'm the only vegetarian in the family so I love to wow them with healthy delicious meals. Thank you!
These are like all of my favorite foods in one salad - sounds wonderful!
Looks reeeeallly good!
It's funny how our ideas of what a salad should be limit our creativity without us even noticing it- mozzarella needs tomatoes, for instance. I like how you broke out of the routine with the dressing, and broccolini is one of my favorite vegetables.
I am leaning towards the anchovy myself. As I am not eating wheat of any kind I wonder how to get that mouth-feel of bread in the salad ... and I confess I have never heard of Burrata cheese.
This sounds delicious. I haven't made my own croutons - I like that idea!
I laughed as I read, "And as that sentence was coming out of my mouth, I thought, wow, what a yawn." I'm relieved to hear you experience a rut every now and then (even if red pepper and lemon zest is a pretty reliable winner)! And I'm looking forward to trying out this recipe soon.
What a fabulous salad to celebrate Spring! I plan to make this part of our Easter lunch on Sunday. Love the addition of eggs to make it a meal. Makes it more Easter-y too, don't you think? Thanks for sharing.
This is one of my most favorite posts you've done in a long time!! For many reasons. One of them being the mention of anchovy even though you are vegetarian. I know many of us readers aren't true vegetarians but still love, love, love your recipes and blog. Everything, for the most part, is so adaptable. So now my question is this, what direction did your broccolini/broccoli conversation go in? I'm assuming broccoli would be just fine in this salad as well? I plan to make this this wknd, and also add a little bit of sliced grapes for a bit of a twist. I've been on a fruit/veggie combo bender lately!:)
Would Kale Raabe work in place of the the broccolini?
The combination looks absolutely lovely! I can see why you'd have three servings! :)
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