This is so much more delicious than you think it is.
I was at Mollie’s house last weekend for a pre-Easter parade lunch, and MAN do she and her husband ever feed us well when we’re there. (The dishes generally include a lot of mayo. I am okay with that.) Her husband made deviled eggs that were so delicious that I ended up eating my daughter’s leftovers. By which I mean the leftover bites that had actually been in her mouth, and that she had decided needed to come out again. (If you are a parent, you know this is relatively normal and often your best chance of getting to eat anything over the course of the day. If you are not…sorry.) I learned that HoneyBaked Ham isn’t just…like, ham baked in honey, but an actual thing that people wait on interminably long lines to buy (and I totally get why because oh my GOD it’s so good). And finally, I ate – with considerable reluctance – a broccoli salad.
When faced with a table of deviled eggs and ham (and pumpkin muffins and potato salad and mimosas), my default tactic is to skip the green stuff, lest it take up valuable space in my stomach that could otherwise be dedicated to muffin-consumption. But then I overheard Kendrick saying about Mollie’s broccoli salad, “Oh wow, there’s bacon in this?” and Mollie said, “Yup!” and okay fiiiiiiiiiiine if I have to, I’ll try it. Reluctantly.
It was so good that I immediately went for my camera because I wanted you guys to try this, too. Unfortunately, this was the photograph that resulted, because we were running out the door and there was no time to deploy the usual “Oh, my food ALWAYS looks like it just hopped off a cookbook page” blogger tricks. Like finding a spot with great lighting. Or, you know, focusing the camera properly.
Hmmmm.
And so, in pursuit of more prettily-lit photos, I made an entirely new batch myself the next day. Just for the photos. Not because I wanted to eat an entire bowl of broccoli salad.
P.S. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this dish is more “broccoli as vehicle for mayonnaise and bacon” than “salad.” I think this is a good thing.
What You Need:
1 large bunch broccoli, chopped into florets
1/2 red onion, finely diced
6 slices well-done bacon, chopped
1 cup red grapes, halved
Small handful sunflower seeds
1 cup real mayo
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
What You Do:
- Mix vinegars, mayo and sugar together in a small bowl, and set aside.
- Combine all remaining ingredients in a large bowl.
- Dress the salad just before serving.
