Saturday, June 29, 2013

Broccoli Salad with Avocado Dressing

Salads can be incredibly filling and tasty. They are easy to put together and refreshingly healthy. Perfect for a weeknight dinner or afternoon snack.

This is a salad I made recently. I loved using avocados in the dressing. It generously coats the salad and keeps it moist and flavorful.


Ingredients (serves 4-5):
  1. 2 heads of broccoli, broken into florets
  2. 5 carrots, peeled and grated
  3. 3 cups grapes, sliced
  4. 1/4 cup walnuts
  5. 2 ripe avocados
  6. 1/4 cup lime juice
  7. 2 teaspoons salt
  8. 1 teaspoon black pepper
  9. 1 tablespoon olive oil
Preparation:
  1.  Blanch the broccoli florets in a pot of boiling water. Dunk the broccoli florets in the boiling water for 3 minutes, and immediately run them under cold water, or dunk them in a bowl of ice-cold water to stop the cooking. When cool, put the broccoli florets in a large bowl.
  2. Add the grated carrots and sliced grapes to the broccoli and toss everything together
  3. De-seed the avocados and grind the pulp along with lime juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper until smooth. 
  4. Pour the avocado dressing on the salad and toss everything well until well combined. 
  5. Add the walnuts and give a final mix.
Refrigerate the salad for 1 hour and let the flavors meld together before serving.

5 comments:

  1. More questions your way!
    I love avocados and given that they are supposed to be so healthy I want to eat them more often. However, I find that they are a major hit or miss for me. Most of the avocados in the shops over here are either really green or too ripe and mushy. So I get the green ones thinking that I can ripen them by placing them in my rice basket. Have you tried this? At times, they ripen perfectly but at times when I cut them open, they are on the verge of rotting - all brown and ugly and I have to throw them away. They aren't cheap either! I've read about the paper bag way of ripening them but back home we used to keep fruits like mangoes, chiku in rice, so I thought this should work. Do you know how many days avocados need? Any tips?

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  2. Avocado can be tricky. Here's what I do. If I am going to use them a few days later, I look for green avocados that are firm to the touch. I then just leave them outside on the counter next to (but not nestled with) the onions, garlic, bananas etc. In a few days (about 3-4 days) they will turn brown (on the outside) and will be slightly soft to the touch when you gently press. At this stage they are always perfect. If I am going to use the ripe avocados later in the week, I immediately put them in the fridge and they stay green and ripe for at least 3 days.

    I think keeping them in rice might speed up the ripening process. Try just leaving them outside, so that they naturally ripen in their own time.

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    Replies
    1. Okay... I'll try this method the next time. Thanks for the tip!

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    2. Followed your advice and the avocados were perfect :-)
      Made pasta sauce with them. Have you tried it?
      I more or less followed this recipe: http://myrealfoodfamily.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/creamy-avocado-pasta/
      Was really good!

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    3. Oh good! And you know what, I've bookmarked a similar recipe for avocado pasta sauce! :). Thanks for sharing. Need to try it out soon!

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