Thursday, July 18, 2013

Getting more from your broccoli & a tasty brassica salad..

 Harvesting broccoli to get more from your plants..
Broccoli would have to be one of my favourite plants to grow.. It starts off with a nice tidy little head of green goodness only to go onto providing you with countless meals of side shoots for months to come.. We were concerned that we didn't plant enough broccoli for the season but we have started to be flooded with side shoots from a few of the plants.. 

 We now have the second crop starting to produce as well so I think we will be sorted for broccoli until the start of Summer now at this rate :) Not sure what we will be doing with the punnet of seedlings I have to plant out yet..


 Brassica salad...

We have been making up brassica salads for quite a while now & they have become a side dish here that is loved by all.. Thought I would post the recipe here even though a similar version has been posted elsewhere before.. It is one of those salads that gets whatever is growing out the back tossed into it.. The only ring-in veggie for this one was the capsicum/bell pepper,the rest came from the garden or aquaponics..



Broccoli & Cauliflower Salad..
1 Small head of broccoli .
1 Small head of cauliflower.
Remove the florets from the broccoli & cauliflower then chop into smaller 10¢/Nickel coin size pieces necessary.. Dice the stem of the cauliflower & broccoli finely.. I cheat & use the food processor ; )»

½ large red capsicum/bell pepper, diced finely.
3 stalks of celery, sliced thinly.
Large handful of cherry tomatoes, whole or sliced in ½.
Handful of parsley, chopped finely.
½ doz onion leaves, sliced thinly.
1/8th cup pine nuts lightly toasted.. We also like to use macadamia nuts as well.
Hand full of brassica flowers. Mustard greens flowers give the salad a nice little kick if you have them.


Dressing…
½cup yoghurt.
¼cup Mayonnaise.
1 heaped tsp of Dijon Mustard.
1 heaped tsp of honey.

Salt & pepper to taste. 

Mix all dressing ingredients together & add salt & Pepper to taste..
     Salad…
Add all the salad ingredients except for the flowers & mix well..
Add the dressing & mix again..
Serve up & use flowers as garnish..
It is a great salad & can be made with almost any salad veggie you have on hand..  
The left overs from this dish were supposed to be lunch today but decided that they would be better used as a side for tonight meal.. Will just be adding a few extra broccoli side shoots to boost it out a bit..
Hope you enjoy it if you give it a whirl..


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Have a great one All...


2 comments:

  1. Love your blog/site. I love broccoli myself. An elderly gent we knew years ago (Dave)who grew his veges organically (he actually had a market garden) told us to plant a row of nettles between every 2 rows of broccoli to stop all the grubs from eating them. My son who was quite young at the time(he's now 27) picked a large bag of Dave's broccoli for us and it was perfect. Young Nettles are also good to eat and full of iron and I believe silica.(just grow some dock nearby to rub on in case of any stings)LOL
    Do hope you use all the young broccoli leaves and stalks in stirfries or just steamed they are yummy.
    Helen in South-East Australia

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    Replies
    1. Hi there Helen..
      We are still picking side shoots & leaves from the first plants that were sown at the end of Summer.. We have been using the young leaves mainly in green salads as with some of the older ones going into veggie smoothies.. The chooks do get most of them though as we like to give them a large amount of greens..
      Have never read of using the nettles that way & shall give them a shot if we get the chance to.. We used to dare each other to touch them as kids growing up on the farm.. Just one of the silly games we used to play as kids :D
      Thanks Helen & hope you have a great weekend..

      Rob :)

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