St Pat's Day Broccoli Salad

Chicagoland Chef du Jour's Note:

My neighbor had everyone over to her house after the St. Pat's Day Parade..... hence the name.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 4 cups broccoli , bite sized pieces, about 2 heads
• ½ cup golden raisin
• ½ cup red onion , chopped
• 1 cup pine nuts , toasted, sub. sunflower seeds
• ¼ lb bacon , cooked and crumbled
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 1⁄3; cup granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Over medium heat, toast pine nuts in a dry skillet until lightly browned. Careful not to burn. Set aside to cool.
2. In a large bowl, combine: broccoli, raisins, onion, pine nuts, bacon.
3. Combine mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar. Spoon over the broccoli medley and toss to coat.
4. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
5. If preparing the night before. Wait until 2 hours before serving to put the mayonnaise mixture over the broccoli medley.

Reviews

[KLHquilts]

Reviewed for PAC Spring '08 -- extremely yummy! I did tweak this a bit, to lower the calorie content; I increased the broccoli-to-everything-else ratio, and used a combination of low-fat and nonfat mayo in the dressing (also increased the vinegar and decreased the sugar, just a bit). I used your suggestion and subbed toasted sunflower seeds for pine nuts. This had a wonderful combination of flavors, and I just loved the crunchiness of it all. Thanks so much for posting it!