Broccoli Salad With Peanut Dressing

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Ahhh…. grilling season.  With the warmer weather, more of the cooking and eating moves outdoors and who doesn’t love that?  It’s not hard to think of something that sounds good.  A steak?  Some chicken?  But what do you put with it?  I made this salad for a side dish and loved it.  The creamy peanut dressing gives it a decidedly Thai flavor, the broccoli, daikon, and cucumbers give it crunch, and the dried cherries give it a bit of unexpected sweetness.  If you use tamari you can make it gluten-free.  It was delicious as is, but I think the next time I make this, some sliced snap peas could be a nice addition.  I could also see adding some chili oil or Sriracha to the peanut dressing to make it a little spicy.

I love that this salad uses every bit of that fresh broccoli, no stem wasting here.  I had extra florets and stems, so I stored them, washed and cut up, in a zip top bag in the fridge.  The stems were good dipped into hummus, and I even had enough left over to stir fry with the florets for another meal.

This salad will hold up to summer heat and can sit for a while on that picnic table.  Also, it will travel well – no worry of wilt.  You can make it ahead of time, completely plated, and keep it covered in the fridge with no worries.  The dressing can be made up to a week ahead if you are a super planner.  C’mon summer.  We’re ready for you.

Broccoli Salad with Peanut Dressing

Dressing

• 1/4 cup natural creamy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1  1/2 inch piece ginger, peeled, finely grated
• Kosher salt

Salad and Assembly

• 2 small heads of broccoli (about 1 lb. total)
• 2 small Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced
• 1  3” daikon, peeled, thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
• Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons dried, tart cherries
• cilantro sprigs (for serving)

For dressing:

Whisk peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, oil, ginger and 2 tablespoons water in a medium bowl until smooth.  Season with salt.  Dressing can be made up to 1 week ahead.  Cover and chill.

For salad:

Slice broccoli stems from florets.  Cut larger florets into bite-sized pieces.  Peel stems and thinly slice. Combine florets, stems, cucumbers, daikon, oil and vinegar in a medium bowl.  Toss to combine and season with salt.

Spoon peanut dressing onto a platter and arrange salad over.  Top with cherries and cilantro.

– recipe by Chris Morocco, as seen on Healthyish, by Bon Appétit