Who doesn’t like Broccoli? It would seem many people but the most famous being George H.W.Bush the 41 st President of the USA, though apparently his wife liked it enough to eat his share. Here in our Tower, I think indifferent is the word used for broccoli, though Himself expresses a dislike for purple sprouting broccoli and Kale, whereas son in law dislikes Brussels Sprouts. Each to their own I guess. My own son has always disliked baked beans and willowy blond detests mushrooms. When they were younger and I made Spaghetti Bolognese I would take whatever vegetables were in the refrigerator, blitz them in my food processor and incorporate them into the sauce. My son recently accused me of making my sauce RED, well maybe I did, but it would be the result of carrots and tomatoes!

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These days, we occasionally have broccoli but I have to admit not often. However, when I choose my delivery from the lovely Watts Farm, I troll through the vegetable options and will always choose a variety, including broccoli. I have been meaning to try alternative recipes for it and have found one, which I adapted to use other things that were in my refrigerator

For my Broccoli Salad I used

• A large head of broccoli, blanched and and cut into small florets
• A handful of toasted nuts ( pistachios, peanuts or hazelnuts)
• Some chopped mint leaves
• Some chopped coriander leaves
• Some chopped dates
• A squeeze of runny honey
• Half teaspoon chilli in oil
• Any other salad type ingredients, such as baby tomatoes, spring onions, chopped celery.

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For the dressing

• 2 tablespoons lime juice ( bottled is ok)
• Pinch salt
• 1tsp caster sugar
• 1tablespoon rice vinegar
• A piece of fresh ginger about a thumb length
• 50 mls sesame oil ( or olive)

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Throw all of the dressing ingredients into a blender or hand blender and whizz until well blended.

Mix together all of the salad ingredients, and toss with about half of the dressing, serving the rest on the side.

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Some useful information:-

• A good source of Vitamin C
• Useful amounts of beta carotene which the body converts to Vitamin A
• Some folate, iron and potassium
• The darker the florets and stem the better the Vitamin C content
• Much better to steam, stir fry or microwave to retain most of the vitamin C