recipe: "Susie Townsend's Ex-Husband's Sesame Broccoli Pasta Salad Significantly Improved"

(note: significantly improved by Susie, not me)

I made this last night and have eaten it like 3 times since. It’s nutty and garlicky and fresh and satisfying - I think you’re going to like it. You’ll find Susie’s recipe first, and my modifications in the notes. Thank you to Susie (and her ex-husband, I guess!).

Susie Townsend's Ex-Husband's Sesame Broccoli Pasta Salad Significantly Improved

*from the Gilroy Garlic Festival’s Garlic Lovers’ Greatest Hits cookbook (published 1993)

makes 6 to 8 servings

ingredients

1 large bunch broccoli, trimmed and separated into florets

3 tablespoons soy sauce

6 cloves fresh garlic, or more to your taste, minced

4 tablespoons hot sesame oil (or 2 tablespoons chili oil and 2 tablespoons sesame oil)

3 tablespoons white vinegar

2 teaspoons honey

½ cup sesame seeds, toasted in a dry skillet

⅓ cup pine nuts, toasted in a dry skillet

1 bunch scallions, chopped

1 medium red onion, sliced thin

1 lb. fusilli (corkscrew pasta), cooked

instructions

Steam broccoli 2 to 3 minutes until tender but still crisp.

In bottom of large salad bowl, combine soy sauce, garlic, oil, vinegar, and honey to make dressing.

Add ¼ cup sesame seeds, pine nuts, scallions, and red onion. Mix well. Then add pasta and toss until well coated.

Add broccoli and toss again. Then sprinkle on remaining sesame seeds.

(The salad is best only slightly chilled, better the next day. If refrigerated overnight, let it come almost to room temperature before serving.)

notes

A few modifications:
- I used two bunches of broccolini instead of regular broccoli (including the stems!), left out the chili oil and used sugar instead of honey because of baby, added a big pinch of kosher salt, and used toasted sesame oil. Here are the cute lil springy pasta shapes.

xoxo,

your favorite becca

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