Bacon Bleu Broccoli Salad

Flip through any fundraiser, spiral-bound, cookbook and you’re sure to find at least five listings for broccoli salad. Some of them sound great with simple ingredients that were probably harvested from local country gardens. Others are a little more creative with flavors that, I’m sure, only a mother could love.

There are two common elements that make a broccoli salad a real broccoli salad. The first is broccoli…of course. This second is crispy bits of bacon. In this recipe, I decided to take the salad to the next level by adding the bold flavor of bleu cheese. It’s a great compliment to the distinct flavor of the bacon. To give the salad a little crunch, I opted to throw in a few toasted pine nuts. Who knows, maybe this recipe will be good enough for my very own fundraiser cookbook.

Bacon Bleu Broccoli Salad
6 strips cooked bacon, crumbled
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/3 cup bleu cheese, crumbled
¼ cup red onion, fine diced
4 ½ cups fresh broccoli florets
¾ cup mayo
2 Tbl. sugar
1 ½ Tbl. cider vinegar

Blanch the broccoli in boiling water for 1 minute and shock in ice water. Drain well and pour into a large mixing bowl. Add cooked bacon crumbles, pine nuts, bleu cheese and red onion to the mixing bowl. Mix the mayo, sugar and cider vinegar in a separate bowl until well combined. Add the dressing to the broccoli mixture and toss until completely coated. Serves 4 – 6 people as a side dish.

 Print This Recipe  Subscribe to Culinary Cory