Family Recipes and more...

Broccoli Cashew Salad Recipe (Sweet Tomatoes Copycat)

Broccoli Cashew Salad Recipe (Sweet Tomatoes Copycat)

This is a great copycat recipe based off of Sweet Tomatoes Broccoli Cashew Salad. My son loved this salad so I embarked on recreating it.  The result was a success and we now have another salad to add to our list.


Broccoli Cashew Salad

Serves 8-12
Prep time 15 minutes
Cook time 5 minutes
Total time 20 minutes
By author Dish Ditty

Ingredients

  • 2lb Fresh Broccoli (Blanched)
  • 1 cup Mayonnaise
  • 2 teaspoons Cider Vinegar
  • 1/4 cup White Sugar
  • 1/2 cup Raisins
  • 1 cup Roasted Cashews
  • 1/4 Red Onion (finely chopped)
  • 1/4 cup Cooked Bacon (chopped)

Directions

Step 1
Blanch the broccoli first. Drain and pat dry.
Step 2
In a large bowl, combine the mayonnaise, cider vinegar, and sugar. Add the onions, raisins, cashews and bacon and mix to combine. Add in the cooked broccoli and toss to coat. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.


How to Blanch your Vegetables

By author Dish Ditty

Ingredients

  • Broccoli
  • Salt
  • Water

Directions

Step 1
Clean and trim broccoli into florrets
Wash and trim broccoli or just buy a bag for $5 like this one.
Step 2
Ice Water
Setup a large bowl with ice water.
Step 3
Boil Water
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add a couple of dashes of salt to the water.
Step 4
Add Broccoli to boiling water
When the water comes to a boil, add the broccoli in small batches to the boiling water. The water will stop boiling, this is ok. It only takes less than 30 seconds to blanch the broccoli. You can see here a picture of when the broccoli just went into the water.
Step 5
Bright green = done!
This is about 30 seconds later. Notice the bright green color on the broccoli. Do not try to fully cook the broccoli or you will wind up with brown mushy broccoli. Also, don't worry if the water comes back to a boil. Depending on how much broccoli you put in, the water may not come to a boil even though the broccoli is ready. Color is the key. When it's bright green, remove it.
Step 6
Ice bath
Quickly remove the broccoli from the boiling water and immediately place it into the ice water bath. Repeat until all the broccoli is blanched. Add ice to the water bath if necessary. The purpose of the ice bath is to stop the broccoli from cooking and to seal in that bright green color.
Step 7
Bright green Broccoli!
You can remove the broccoli from the ice bath after about 5 minutes. Look how pretty the broccoli looks now.

And, this salad isn’t just for summertime. I served this at Thanksgiving and it was a hit. A beautiful bright green accent to all the brown in a typical Thanksgiving meal.  To make it a little more festive, change the raisins out for Craisins.

Enjoy!


Broccoli Cashew Salad by Dish Ditty
Broccoli Cashew Salad


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.