I will admit to a small beef with the produce selection in many commercial grocery stores. Too many vegetables have been hybridized to make them easy to pick and ship, but at a cost of flavor. Broccoli, sadly, is one of them. All too often, you can find big uniform crowns, but the taste is pale and bland. For that reason, we’ve turned to baby broccoli, also called broccolini. (Broccoli rabe is a different vegetable, with a different origin, but also yummy.) And it’s perfect in this salad.
The original called for regular broccoli, raw, suggesting you could blanch it if you really had to. We blanched it and found the flavor much improved. (That's what you'll see in the pictures.) When we swapped in broccolini, an “it’s okay” dish became a hit.
Raddicchio is one of those vegetables that often prompt new grocery checkers to ask “what are you making with this?” (One new checker was so proud of himself for recognizing it as red cabbage that I almost hated to correct him. Almost.) It can be slightly bitter, but it’s an excellent addition to this salad.
Several of the Kitchen crew -- Leslie Karst, Molly MacRae, Mia Manansala, and me -- are headed to Left Coast Crime, the mystery and crime fiction fan convention, in Albuquerque later this week. If you're there, find us! I am fairly sure we'll be bringing home some new flavors and recipe ideas to share with you, along with new friendships and new books!
And if you missed the cover reveal on my newsletter for Blind Faith, written as Alicia Beckman, coming this fall from Crooked Lane Books, scroll down -- I think you'll love it!
Chopped Salad with Broccolini, Egg, and Radicchio
Adapted from the Williams-Sonoma blog
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons whole-grain Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 pound broccolini, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 head radicchio, about 8 ounces, cored and chopped
3 ounces smoked or regular mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1/4 cup slivered or chopped almonds, or slightly more
3 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and coarsely chopped
Bring a 3 quart pan of water to a boil.
While the water is heating, make the dressing. In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, and salt.
Cook the broccolini until bright green and still crisp, 2-3 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking.
Add the broccolini, radicchio, cheese, and almonds to the bowl. Stir gently to mix well and coat all the ingredients with the dressing. Add the eggs and fold in gently until just combined.
Serve immediately. Serves 4.
Enjoy!
From the cover of BLIND FAITH, written as Alicia Beckman (Crooked Lane Books, October 11, 2022)
Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries and the Spice Shop Mysteries, continuing in July 2022 with Peppermint Barked. She's the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories. Death al Dente, the first Food Lovers' Village Mystery, won Best First Novel in 2013, following her 2011 win in Best Nonfiction. Her first historical short story, "All God's Sparrows," won the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Short Story. As Alicia Beckman, she writes standalone suspense, beginning with Bitterroot Lake (2021) and continuing with Blind Faith (October 2022, Crooked Lane Books).
A past president of Sisters in Crime and a current board member of Mystery Writers of America, she lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.
Swing by her website and subscribe to her seasonal newsletter, for a chat about the writing life, what she's working on, and what she's reading -- and a free short story. And join her on Facebook where she shares book news and giveaways from her writer friends, and talks about food, mysteries, and the things that inspire her.
