Strawberry Broccoli Salad

The lemon-y mayonnaise dressing is superb atop these strawberries and broccoli. Add some crunch with the almonds and red onions. If you are like me, and you like your food (sometimes) overly sweet then feel free to get naughty and throw some honey into the dressing.

This meal really needs to be served chilled so it’s best to make it hours beforehand and let it sit in the fridge. Plus, during this time the flavors get to meld together and make it even more utterly and downright delicious.

If you want to get your protein fix in as well, there ain’t nothing wrong with throwing some chicken, shrimp, or skirt steak atop this salad.

What You Shall Need:

4 cups broccoli florets

2 cups strawberries

1/4 cup almonds, sliced

1/4 cup red onion, sliced

1/2 cup homemade mayonnaise (recipe below)

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp raw honey (optional)

1 tbsp poppy seeds (optional)

What You Shall Do:

1. In a bowl, combine the mayo, lemon juice, honey and poppy seeds.

2. In another bowl, combine the broccoli, strawberries, almond and onions.

3. Pour dressing over the salad. Mix well. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

For the mayonnaise:

There are lots of different “paleo” mayonnaise recipes one can find on the net. Like, lots of ’em.
I don’t know about you but before I began the “paleo” lifestyle of eating ( roughly eight years ago before it became the cool thing to do), mayonnaise was a staple of what I ate. Along with pizza, pork rolls and Dr. Pepper. Nowadays you replace the bad oils typically seen in conventional mayonnaise (i.e. soybean) with healthy fats and oils, mess with the flavors/ingredients a little bit ( cayenne, lemon juice, salt, mustard, etc.) and we’re good to go.

Here is what I used for the mayonnaise this time:

2 egg yolks

1 tsp mustard

3 tsp lemon juice

Dash of cayenne pepper

How To Prepare:

1 cup olive oil (or, you can split the oils up. 1/2 cup olive and 1/2 cup coconut, or 1/2 cup olive and 1/2 cup macadamia oil). Macadamia give it a tremendous flavor, perhaps one of my favorites.

1. In a bowl, mix the eggs, mustard and  1 tsp lemon juice.

2. Using a hand whisk, start whisking VERY vigorously while SLOWLY pouring in the olive oil, even drop by drop at the beginning. You are creating an emulsion and if you add the oil too fast it will separate and will be ruined.

3. As you mix, it will get thicker and more mayonnaise-like. At this point you can add the rest of the oil a bit faster.

4. When oil is incorporated and the mayonnaise thick, add in the remainder 2 tsp of lemon juice. Taste what you’ve just made. Feel free to add salt and pepper, to taste.