Broccoli is one of those garden vegetables that keeps on giving. After the first cutting of a large center head, the plant will produce smaller side heads for several weeks.
And for those like me who enjoy a good broccoli salad, that’s dandy.
Just yesterday, I was able to harvest several smaller heads on my four plants, which Therese used to make one of my summer garden favorites, her Broccoli Pasta Salad. The salad is comprised of broccoli, artichoke hearts, ripe olives, rotini and feta cheese that is marinated in Zesty Italian Dressing.
Another nice thing about this salad is that it gets tastier the longer it sits.
And because of that, I’ll give it an A.
Broccoli Pasta Salad
1 large bunch broccoli, including stalks, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
1 16-ounce jar Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1 13.75-ounce can quartered artichoke hearts in brine
1 3.8-ounce can sliced pitted ripe olives, drained
½ cup (more or less to taste) of crumbled feta cheese
12 ounces cooked rotini
Mix all of ingredients and marinate overnight.
Note: For those who have broccoli growing in gardens, second, third and fourth cuttings should be done when the heads are small, tight and firm. If flower buds appear, it should be cut immediately. Once the yellow flowers open, broccoli becomes bitter.
One thought on “CHEF JEFF: One Byte At A Time — Broccoli Pasta Salad”
Jim Johnson August 31, 2015 at 3:20 pm
Tiede… my family had a similar combination of red cabbage, a good-size beefsteak tomato (I can see where cherry or grape tomatoes would suffice), a jar of black olives, and a head of broccoli… all marinated in Italian dressing. Even in a family of six, there were leftovers to last a day or two. I still make it every once in awhile. Thank you for the reminder of things we “have to taste again.”
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