Broccoli Salad

Hi,

Am back with the aforementioned Broccoli Salad recipe.

Hope you have all had a good week. Busy one, here at Restaurant Quality. Little Sweeheart #5 and her Mommy and Daddy were here for supper on Memorial Day. The featured menu item was Sliced BBQ Pork, from Memphis Best Barbeque, a small restaurant near us. The owner is part of the extended Neely family -- as in the Neelys on FoodNetwork. Man oh man (as James K. would say) is it good. FD #1 and FSIL have been hearing about it for months.

So, I call Memphis Best on Memorial Day. Dang --- closed for the holiday. In hindsight, makes sense that the owner would close on Memorial Day. He is retired USMC. When we go to the restaurant, Mr. Restaurant Quality dons one of his USMC shirts and they give each other that silent acknowledgement that Marines give each other. Then, come the warm handshakes........

What became the featured menu item???? Brats. Can never go wrong with brats. Mr. Restaurant Quality took over the featured menu item. Dashed to the store. Parboiled them in beer and sauerkraut. Grilled them. Placed them in a simmering saucepan with the beer and sauerkraut and hovered over them for about 3 hours.

Best brats I've ever had. Felt like I was tailgating at Miller Park. I digress to envision driving past Miller Park on gameday ------- smoke drifting over I-94 from all the perfectly grilled brats.
And, the smell of the grills drifting into the car. Catching a 55 MPH glimpse of rows and rows of Brewer fans, sitting on lawnchairs, playing the beanbag game that FS #2 dominates, standing at tables groaning with 'ballpark' food.

Next time I go, Broccoli Salad will be on that groaning table. The recipe comes to me from FS #1, who makes restaurant quality food in his own kitchen (and at the firehouse).........


Broccoli Salad

suggested musical background: Sway, by Michael Buble


Recipe is as FS#1 gave it to me.


1 head broccoli
1 cup raisins
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
crushed bacon

1 cup mayo
1/2 cup sugar
4 T. orange juice
2 T. white vinegar


Mix dressing ingredients and add rest of stuff.


My Notes:

FS#1 knows what he is doing in the kitchen, so his recipe instruction is succinct, shall we say.

The broccoli: cut it up so that you are using the 'flowerets', not any of the stalk.

The sunflower seeds: Am not a sunflower seed gal. I use pine nuts, lightly toasted in a small pan. But, you can use them raw.

The red onion: RestaurantQuality never uses raw onion. Mr. RestaurantQuality has few caveats, but raw onion is one of them. Now, fried onions????? Yes, yes, yes. Not in this salad, but on cheeseburgers and Italian sausage.

The crushed bacon: RestaurantQuality uses 4 slices of bacon, crisply fried and then broken (by hand) into small bite-size pieces.


In a large bowl, combine the broccoli, raisins, sunflower seeds, onion, and bacon. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine the mayo, sugar, OJ and vinegar.

Pour the 'sauce' over the broccoli stuff. Combine well. Refrigerate.


This recipe allows for lots of 'adjustments'. You can easily halve the recipe for a smaller bowl of salad.

You can easily follow the recipe, using a head of broccoli, but adjust the amount of raisins, nuts/seeds, onion, bacon.

If you like cauliflower (this is one of my caveats - I say 'a no-no-no'), throw some in the bowl.


Life is good................