Broccoli Salad With Garlic and Sesame

I've made this over and over. I use 1/4 c olive oil. I have no idea why the recipe calls for 3/4 c, which leaves you with broccoli swimming in oil.

Followed Figaro's advice and used grape seed oil but used 1/3 cup and 2 teaspoons of rice wine vinegar. We love garlic and used 6 cloves. Also, a used a full tbs of cumin seeds. First I toasted them lightly then cracked them (few whacks with a pestle). With the cumin, I added whole a half tsp of whole peppercorns, lightly toasted and cracked.

Another idea I want to try is to use the mortar and pestle to grind the red pepper flakes a bit. Makes less of an impact for those not into them.

I've made this twice, the first time I didn't have cumin seeds and used a tsp of cumin powder. I liked that much better. I also used less olive oil, but put in an extra TBSP of sesame oil...and I added a finely diced shallot. VERY popular both times :)

I've thrown in fresh tomatoes, left over raw zucchini, cucumber, and had it over leftover quinoa, brown rice and even roasted roots veges...this recipe is a magical in it's ability to make leftovers, tasty.

Well, my husband sniffed this salad at its early stages and said he wouldn't eat it! Not a raw broccoli fan. His loss. However, by afternoon it had 'cured' and became delectable. I had some last night and today, my little parrot, Noodle, and I are snacking on it. Very yummy.

Have to add that I used far less oil than called for which makes for very low calorie snacking. I also used only 1 garlic clove because of the garlic 'hater'. Next time I'll increase it. And it does taste better next day.

I accidentally used ground cumin instead of whole cumin as the recipes calls for and it worked just as well.

I made this using half broccoli & half cauliflower instead of all broccoli. Also added some multi-colored baby carrots cut in half.

I started out with 1/3 cup of olive oil as other commenters suggested, but ended up adding the full amount the recipe calls for.

Also sprinkled some sesame seeds on at the end.

It was very good. I liked the colors the extra veggies added.

Ok, so I answered my own question. If you substitute "hours" for "days" in the parenthetical phrase, it all makes sense. I made the dish. It was wonderful. The longer you let it sit out at room temperature the less raw taste it will have. I bought florets and weighed them out to 2 lbs. This was fine with 3/4 cup oil but I did increase the vinegar to 1 1/2 TABLEspoons. If you buy two 1 lb. heads of broccoli and trim the stalks, you will need less oil.

You should buy an inexpensive kitchen scale. They are so much easier to use in cooking and baking than cups. Most recipes are now using weight instead of volume anyway.

My version: nix the olive oil - used grape seed; rice vinegar instead of red wine; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 1 clove garlic; 1 tsp garlic chili sauce; kept the sesame oil.

Basically, I wanted it to be more Asian, since I'm serving it with Miso glazed salmon. I'll have to let you know how it comes out. It's sitting and marinating now.

1/4 cup olive oil
Tbsp of vinegar
juice of a lemon
doubled cumin seeds, garlic, pepper flakes
Delicious.

I don't mind the slightly raw flavor, but the rest of the family was put off by it, so a brief steam was helpful. Also, if your stalks are thick, peeling them helps the dressing penetrate so the acids cook away the raw taste. My daughter-in-law takes slices it all up on a mandoline or in food processor before adding dressing. The increased surface area gives the dressing more places to sink into, and that also helps to "cook" it a bit.

I made this hot dish. Instead of pouring the dressing over, I added broccoli to the skillet and cooked for one minute or even less. I also added cooked wild rice and it turned out great for a cold night dinner.

for the folks who found that the amount of olive oil was too much: you may not be using enough broccoli. i bought just over 3lbs broccoli with the full stems attached. once i chopped most of the stems off (to get the “heads” noted in the recipe) i had about 2lbs broccoli heads. the amount of olive oil was just right. imo the weight given should include full stems because that’s how broccoli is usually sold.

It would be helpful to me to have a cup measurement for the broccoli since heads vary in size.