Broccoli salad: green, crunchy, never overcooked
The usual mistake in this salad is cooking the broccoli until tender — it then breaks up when folded and turns olive-grey within an hour. Here the broccoli is blanched three minutes and dropped into iced water: it stays firm, crunchy and vivid green. The rest is egg, sweetcorn and a dressing made half with yogurt so it doesn't bury the vegetable.
Your own work in that: 25 min.
- Broccoli and eggs 15 min
- Chopping 10 min
- Chilling 20 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneHard-boil the eggs
Boil the eggs 9 minutes from the boil, then transfer them straight into cold water. Nine minutes gives a set but still orange yolk; at twelve you get a grey ring and a sulphurous smell that is very noticeable alongside broccoli.
Ingredients: 600 g broccoli · 4 pcs eggs · 200 g tinned sweetcorn · ½ pcs red onion · 50 g sunflower seeds · 1 tbsp salt
Blanch the broccoli three minutes
Break the broccoli into small florets, peel the stalk and dice it. Bring a large pan of well-salted water to a hard boil and add the broccoli for exactly 3 minutes. It should soften only at the surface and stay clearly crunchy inside.
Ingredients: 600 g broccoli · 4 pcs eggs · 200 g tinned sweetcorn · ½ pcs red onion · 50 g sunflower seeds · 1 tbsp salt
TipThe water must be at a full boil and <b>generously salted</b>, like pasta water. A large volume of fiercely boiling water comes back to the boil quickly once the broccoli goes in, and the salt seasons it through.
Three minutes, not a second longerPlunge it into iced water
Drain and immediately tip it into a bowl of cold water and ice for 3 minutes. The shock stops the cooking at once, so the chlorophyll has no time to break down and the broccoli stays vivid. Then dry it thoroughly on a tea towel.
TipWet broccoli waters the dressing down within an hour. Drying is not a detail but the condition for the salad surviving a day in the fridge.
Iced water locks in the vivid greenPrepare the rest
Chop the eggs coarsely with a knife, not in an egg slicer — larger pieces don't disintegrate into the dressing. Chop the onion finely and pour boiling water over it for 3 minutes to take off the edge. Drain the sweetcorn and toast the seeds 3 minutes in a dry pan.
Egg cut coarsely, not crushedMix the dressing
Stir the mayonnaise with the yogurt, mustard, crushed garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mayonnaise alone would be too heavy and would bury the broccoli; the yogurt brings acid that lifts the vegetable instead of masking it.
Ingredients: 120 g mayonnaise · 120 g thick natural yogurt · 1 tsp mustard · ½ pcs lemon, juice · 1 clove garlic · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp pepper
Half and half: mayonnaise and yogurtFold gently and chill
In a large bowl combine the broccoli, eggs, sweetcorn and onion, add the dressing and fold with a spatula, from the bottom, in a few strokes. Chill 20 minutes. Add the seeds only before serving, since they soften in the dressing within a quarter of an hour.
Ingredients: 600 g broccoli · 4 pcs eggs · 200 g tinned sweetcorn · ½ pcs red onion · 50 g sunflower seeds · 1 tbsp salt
A few strokes; the florets must stay whole
Before you start
With meat
Cubes of smoked chicken or fried bacon turn this into a full meal. Add bacon cool — hot, it melts the dressing.
How long it keeps
Two days in the fridge if the broccoli was dried properly. On the third day the eggs start to dominate the smell, which is this salad's natural limit.
With raw broccoli
The American version uses raw broccoli, chopped very fine, with raisins and bacon. It is crunchier and sweeter, but some people find it harder to digest.
Without mayonnaise
Greek yogurt alone with a spoon of olive oil and mustard. Lighter and noticeably sharper; add a teaspoon of honey to balance it.
