Make Ahead
by: Ella Quittner
May13,2019
4.6
7 Ratings
- Prep time 10 minutes
- Serves 3 as a lunch
Jump to Recipe
Author Notes
I first encountered cheese-as-salad-dressing at a restaurant near my apartment. Buoyed by the concept, I began to experiment at home. Would a sharper, headier cheese work in the same way? And how about something with goat cheese? This one is simple, with raw broccoli, chopped dates, sour cherries, crumbled goat cheese, and walnuts. But the dressing is anything but straightforward. It doubles down on the punchy cheese and calls in olive oil, lemon juice, and zest. I could happily eat it with a spoon. (If you know what's good for you, you'll make a double batch for marathon snack-dipping. Think: everything from stray chips to carrots, and everywhere from standing in your kitchen in sweatpants to a picnic blanket.) The salad itself comes together in only 10 minutes—so it's a make-ahead luncher’s dream. —Ella Quittner
Test Kitchen Notes
This recipe was developed in partnership with Cypress Grove. —The Editors
- Test Kitchen-Approved
What You'll Need
Ingredients
- 1 medium to large head of broccoli
- 8-10 pitted dates
- 3/4 cupwalnut pieces, toasted or raw
- 1/4 cupdried sour cherries
- 5 ouncesCypress Grove Humboldt Fog, divided into 2 ounces and 3 ounces, at room temperature
- 1/4 cupextra virgin olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons
- 1 lemon, for 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/2 teaspoonkosher salt, plus more as needed
Directions
- On a cutting board, take the head of broccoli and cut off the florets with about 2 inches of stem attached to each. Slice these thinly (aim for between 1/8 inch and 1/4 inch), but roughly—no need to spend too much time getting everything the same size or thinness. Different textures are ideal. You want about 4 cups total of sliced broccoli pieces—add to a large bowl, where we’ll build the salad. (Save the remaining stalks for another use!)
- Roughly chop the dates into pea-sized pieces—you should end up with about 1/3 cup. If the walnut pieces are large, give them a quick chop, too, so no piece is so chunky that it’d be unpleasant to get in a bite. Add the dates, walnuts, and dried sour cherries to the bowl of sliced broccoli. Crumble in the 2 ounces of goat cheese.
- In a food processor, blend the remaining 3 ounces of goat cheese with 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon lemon rind, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, until the mixture is creamy. Pause the blending once or twice to scrape down the sides with a spatula, to ensure no cheese clumps are hanging around the perimeter. As it gets fully smooth and hom*ogenous (this takes less than a minute), drizzle in the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, until you have a dressing with the consistency of loose, thick yogurt. Taste and add additional salt and lemon juice if needed.
- Drizzle the dressing over your broccoli salad and toss to thoroughly coat. This salad is excellent right away, but can also sit in the fridge, fully dressed and covered, up to three days. (And it even lasts a few extra days if you prep everything, but wait to dress it until you serve.)
Tags:
- Salad Dressing
- Salad
- American
- Broccoli
- Cherry
- Date
- Goat Cheese
- Walnut
- Cheese
- No-Cook
- Quick and Easy
- Make Ahead
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4 Reviews
Paula K. January 29, 2023
Admittedly, our family loves broccoli, but this salad is now at the top of our love list. And to think I almost didn’t try it! Didn’t have fresh broccoli or goat cheese, but did have frozen and feta. I simply thawed the broccoli florets, and discovered that the prep for freezing must be blanching, so when thawed, they are perfect for a salad. Feta worked great as a cheese swap, although it was a bit salty. Just sayin’. It was served as a side with “Sunday Drumsticks” and mixed quinoa, but the salad was the star of the meal.
Susan October 6, 2019
Prepared as written and it is wonderful. I thought about blanching the broccoli but I like to try recipes as written first before making adjustments. I might blanch the broccoli and toast the walnuts next time. The dressing will have many uses.
Ella Q. October 7, 2019
Hi Susan,
I'm so pleased to hear you enjoyed it!
Ella
missmariss July 5, 2019
This was a hit! I blanched the broccoli, doubled the recipe and only used 3/4 of the cheese because I thought it might be too rich and it was perfect!
