This sweet potato broccoli salad, I tell you, it’s somethin’ else. My old man, he don’t usually like nothin’ green, but he ate two bowls of this! It’s got them sweet potatoes, you know, the orange ones. And that broccoli, all crunchy and good. You mix ’em up, and it’s a meal, I swear. Good for you, too. All them colors, gotta be healthy, right?
First thing, you gotta get them sweet potatoes. Not the little bitty ones, but the good-sized ones, you know? Maybe three medium ones, like they say on them cooking shows. Peel ’em, chop ’em up. Not too small, not too big. Like, uh, dice, I guess? That’s what them fancy cooks call it.
Then, here’s a trick I learned. You gotta soak them sweet potatoes in cold water. Just dump ’em in a bowl of water for a while. They say half an hour, but I usually just leave ’em there ’til I remember about ’em. Longer the better, I reckon. Takes out that starchy stuff, makes ’em cook up better.
- Get some sweet potatoes, like three medium.
- Peel ’em, chop ’em into chunks.
- Soak ’em in cold water. Long as you can.
- Dry ’em off good. Real good.
Then you gotta dry them sweet potatoes off. Real good, mind you. Use a towel or somethin’. Then toss ’em with some oil. Olive oil, I guess, if you got it. I just use what I got. And some spices. Salt and pepper, sure. Maybe some of that paprika, gives it a nice color. Whatever you like, really.
Then you roast ’em in the oven. Hot oven, like 400 degrees, I think. Spread ’em out on a pan. Don’t pile ’em up too much, or they won’t get crispy. Just cook ’em ’til they’re soft, kinda brown on the edges. Takes a while, maybe 20 minutes, 30 minutes. Just keep an eye on ’em.
While them sweet potatoes are cookin’, you get your broccoli. Just the regular kind. Chop it up, not too small. Like little trees, you know? You can cook this a little too or leave it raw. I like it a little cooked, just for a few minutes. Still crunchy, but not so hard, you know? Steam it or boil it, doesn’t matter, as long as it is cooked a little bit. You want that sweet potato broccoli salad to be easy to eat, right?
- Chop up some broccoli.
- Cook it a little, or don’t. Up to you.
Now, some folks, they put other stuff in this sweet potato broccoli salad. Like that red cabbage. Makes it colorful, I guess. Chop it up real fine. And that, uh, couscous stuff. Like little tiny grains of rice or somethin’. Cook that up, too. It’s easy, just boil some water and pour it over, let it sit for a bit. Fluff it with a fork.
And cheese! Some people like that feta cheese. Crumbly stuff. Salty. I guess it is good if you have some. If you don’t, no big deal, just add some salt.
When the sweet potatoes are done, you just mix everything up. The sweet potatoes, the broccoli, the cabbage, the couscous, the cheese, if you got it. Toss it all together. Then you need a dressing, I guess you call it. Somethin’ to make it all, you know, stick together.
- Mix everything up when the sweet potatoes are done.
- Make a dressing.
You can make a fancy dressing, I suppose. With that lemon juice and vinegar and all that. But I just use a little oil and some more of them spices. Maybe some honey, if you like it sweet. Just a drizzle. Mix it all up. Taste it. Need more salt? Add more salt. Need more sweet? Add more honey. This sweet potato broccoli salad, you can’t really mess it up.
And that’s it. That’s the sweet potato broccoli salad. It’s good warm, it’s good cold. You can eat it right away, or you can put it in the icebox for later. It’ll keep for a few days. My old man, he likes it with a little extra hot sauce. Me, I like it just like that.
You can also make it even sweeter. I saw one lady on TV, she put yogurt and some syrup on her sweet potato. And another one, she put bacon on it. Bacon makes everything better, right? And honey, of course.
So there you have it. A good, healthy sweet potato broccoli salad. Easy to make, even if you’re not much of a cook. Just chop, soak, roast, mix. That’s all there is to it. And it’s so good, even your picky eaters will like it. Trust me, I know about picky eaters. I got a whole house full of ’em!
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