Asian Broccoli Salad
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This salad couldn’t get any greener! Between the broccoli, avocado and peanuts the textures are amazing! The vinaigrette gives this salad a nice fresh punch of flavor. I’m raving about it can you tell?! Yum!! Now my husband wouldn’t just eat this on it’s own… although I totally would! The edamame, avocado and peanuts give this salad plenty of protein and healthy fat to make this your whole meal. Maybe grilled shrimp or even flank steak would be delicious along side. Ok… I’ll stop drooling and actually share the damn recipe now!
Asian Broccoli Salad
Ingredients
- 1 head broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 cup frozen edamame, thawed
- 5 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 avocado
- 4 tbsp cilantro
- 1-2 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1/4 cup Peanuts
- LIME VINAIGRETTE
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 lime
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
In a medium pot, bring 4 c water to a boil. Add broccoli pieces to boiling water. Cook 1-2 minutes. Throw the edamame in the broccoli pot at the last 30 seconds so that it can quickly thaw.
While the broccoli is blanching (the fancy term for only cooking it a minute or two), put a large bowl in your sink and fill it with ice and cold water. Once the broccoli has cooked 1-2 minutes, use a slotted spoon to remove the broccoli and edamame. Place it in the ice water (to 'shock' the broccoli - fancy terms all over the place!). This will help the broccoli stop cooking immediately and keep its bright green color.
Using the same slotted spoon, remove the broccoli and edamame from the ice water after it has cooled (only takes 2 minutes or so), and dry it on a dish towel to remove excess water.
While the broccoli and edamame dry, dry the large bowl used for cooling down the veggies of any water(because who wants to wash another dish?). Thinly slice the green onions and roughly chop the cilantro. Add the green onions, cilantro, broccoli and edamame to the bowl and mix to combine.
Halve the avocado and take out the pit. Gently scoop out each side of the avocado, leaving all the flesh together. Then, gently chop the avocado (you want to be gentle so it keeps it's texture and doesn't turn into mush). Once vinaigrette is made, add avocado to vinaigrette and toss lightly to coat.*
Add the lime vinaigrette/avocado mixture to the broccoli mixture and gently stir to combine. Transfer to serving bowl (if using) and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve immediately.
FOR THE VINAIGRETTE
In a small bowl, combine rice vinegar, honey and the juice of 1 lime. Slowly stream in the extra virgin olive oil while whisking continuously to create the vinaigrette. Lightly season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Notes
*This step helps keep the avocado from browning since the vinaigrette has acid in it. Feel free to steal this tip for future avocado filled meals. This dish is free of all the things... gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian, vegan, paleo and keto even (although you'd need to use a sugar substitute for the honey)