Scott's Broccoli Salad

My salivary glands are in overdrive. In the window in which I type my posts, this picture looms large. More than life size. But that little nubbin of walnut sitting there on the side looks so real I could reach through the screen to tuck it in my mouth.

I met my friend Joan W. at the Long Beach Yacht Club the other day. Long Beach is about 30 miles west of where we live. Joan's a member of the Yacht Club, so we occasionally meet there. She and I met in about 1995 at an NAIC (National Association of Investor's Corp.) seminar - we're both in investment clubs, and sat next to one another for the day while we learned all about how to use a specific software package called Toolkit, made for investment clubs, and for individual investors too. We've been friends ever since!

The salad bar and carving station are available every weekday at the Yacht Club, and it was wonderful. Joan told me I needed to try the broccoli salad, that it's a favorite of hers. Sounded good to me. Oh my. Was this ever delicious. It's the honey that is the wild card in this recipe. It's a sweet salad, but somehow broccoli seems to be able to handle some sweet. Fortunately for me - and for you, my dear readers - Joan has the recipe, that was devised by the Yacht Club's chef, Scott, a real winner of a recipe.

Cook's Notes: Understand, please, that I haven't made this, but I think I'd try this without candying the walnuts - it's plenty sweet already. But I don't want to detract a thing from Scott's recipe. It's a stunning one, and if you like the combo with the honey and sweet walnuts, go for it!

Scott's Broccoli Salad

1 bunch broccoli, raw, chopped

1/2 small red onion, julienned

2 T. dried cranberries

1/2 cup candied walnuts

1/2 cup Stilton cheese, or Blue, crumbled

3/4 cup honey mustard dressing (see below)

Combine everything except dressing, then add dressing, just so the vegetables are covered to your satisfaction, and serve.

Honey Mustard Dressing

1 cup honey

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 dash red wine vinegar

Pepper to taste

Combine ingredients and stir to mix thoroughly.

Per Serving (recipe assumes you use all the dressing, which you will not): 207 Calories; trace Fat (1.9% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 53g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 61mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 0 Fat; 3 Other Carbohydrates.

Printer-friendly recipe, click title at top.

Dilled Brocoli and Leek Puree

For Thanksgving, we had 3 vegetable side dishes, plus dressing and mashed potatoes. This was one of the three vegetables. A recipe I hadn't made before, and I loved it. Very simple. And fairly low in fat besides. I wouldn't exactly call it purely healthy, but there are only 11 grams of fat per serving. Not too bad.

I've mentioned before that I use MasterCook 9 for my recipe software. It was developed by Sierra products, but now is owned by a company that doesn't provide much customer service or support. So, a couple of years ago when I was working toward printing my own cookbook, I needed more help than the help screens were offering. I found a message board kind of place, a Yahoo group, where I could post questions and get really helpful answers for some of my complicated cookbook problems. (FYI: I never did print the cookbook, having decided to start this blog instead.) In reading the boards I discovered a site that offers recipes already formatted in MasterCook (another Yahoo group called MC Taste_Tested), so it's a very easy thing to import them into my program. People from all over the country load recipes there every day. It got to be too much reading, though, so have since stopped receiving the compilation every day. But this recipe came from that source, and I have no idea to whom I owe the credit. Doing a Google search provided nothing with the same or similar name. So, I tip my hat to some unknown person who uploaded this recipe.

This can be made ahead with no difficulty, and heated up in the microwave if you're short on time. The original recipe is just warmed on the stovetop, but I didn't want to do that for our Thanksgiving dinner. So I just put it into a oil-sprayed baking dish, refrigerated it overnight, then heated in the microwave for about 4-5 minutes, with platic wrap intact. DH liked this vegetable the best.

Dilled Broccoli and Leek Puree
Servings: 8
4 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 pounds leeks -- halved, washed, sliced
1 large russet potato -- peeled, quartered
1 pound broccoli -- stems and florets
6 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon fresh dill -- minced

Salt and pepper to taste
1. Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add leeks and cook until very soft, about 20 minutes. Stir often to prevent burning. You do not want the leeks to brown.
2. Cook potato in boiling water until almost tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in broccoli stems and cook for 5 minutes. Add broccoli florets and cook an additional 5 minutes, or until all the vegetables are tender. Drain. Puree leeks, potato and broccoli in a food processor. Add cream and dill, then season with salt and pepper.
3. Transfer mixture to a saucepan to keep warm, or pour into an oil-sprayed baking dish. May be refrigerated at this point and kept up to 2 days. Bring to room temp before continuing.
4. Heat in microwave for 4-5 minutes, until heated through. Sprinkle top with additional dill, if desired.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 132 Calories; 11g Fat (70.4% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 33mg Cholesterol; 86mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1 Vegetable; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 2 Fat.

To print a PDF recipe, click title at top.