Reciprocity

5/25/2007 UPDATE: This recipe has now been updated to reflect further refinements. The result is a much more complex blend of flavors, with salty olives, avocado chunks and cherry tomato halves adding freshness, contrasting flavors and texture. This is still a favorite, and oh, so good for you!

I did my shopping at Weggie’s at 2:30am Thursday morning. Shopping in the middle of the night is great from the standpoint of crowd avoidance, but it’s NOT the time to look for fresh produce. The organic green veggie bins were completely empty except for one lonely little head of broccoli. It was in fairly good shape, so I brought it home and googled for a raw broccoli recipe. I found a “Broccoli Primevera [sic]” originally from “Delights of the Garden” by Imar Hutchins, and used that as my starting point.

I like the way the tahini dressing smothers and balances the strong flavors of the broccoli. The biggest change I made was to include the tender portion of the broccoli stem as thin, irregularly chopped bits. I also used sprouted (or at least soaked) sunflower seeds to capture the beneficial enzymes made available that way. I think presentation could be enhanced with a few cherry tomato halves tossed in at the last minute. Even as it was, the outcome was delicious—and I’m not a huge raw broccoli fan, so I think that’s saying something.

Raw Broccoli Primavera

1 bunch of organic broccoli
1/2 cup sprouted sunflower seeds (or crunchy sprout mix)
1/3 cup salt cured black olives, pitted and cut in quarters
1/4 cup red onion
1 large carrot

Dressing
1/4 cup of tahini (raw, uncooked)
1 garlic clove
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or yuzu vinegar
1/4 cup spring water
2 teaspoons tamari
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast flakes

Garnishes
1 ripe avocado
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half

Cut broccoli florets from the stalks and cut into small bits, being careful not to crumble more than necessary, place in a large mixing bowl. Rub the broccoli stalks, carrot and onion through a mandoline with a medium cross-cut blade. Put those bits into the bowl as well.

In the blender, blend the dressing ingredients until smooth and creamy. Pour the mixture onto the broccoli and stir until evenly covered with sauce. Add the sprouts.

At this point, the salad will store well in the refrigerator for several days.

Just before serving, add avocado and tomatoes. Makes 5 or 6 cups.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 3rd, 2006 at 8:25 pm and is filed under Kitchen Zen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.