Holiday Recipes: Broccoli Carpaccio
Update your table with a raw and spicy side dish recipe from Dirt Candy: A Cookbook
In anticipation of the various gatherings that occur around this time of year, we’ve pulled together five of our favorite cookbooks from recent months. Each day this week, CH will feature a different cookbook and a recipe, the sum of which will make up a complete holiday meal. Today’s dish: a side from “Dirt Candy: A Cookbook.”
Chef Amanda Cohen shares some of the secrets and recipes behind her successful vegetarian restaurant, Dirty Candy, in a recently released cookbook. Packed with informative recipes and cartoon illustrations, the guide offers a playful look at the a behind-the-scenes happenings in Cohen’s busy kitchen. We looked to Dirty Candy to find a recipe that will not only fit vegan and vegetarian diets but please any carnivore at the table as well.
As a riff on a traditional carpaccio of raw meat, Cohen’s raw broccoli and avocado combination introduces a new way to think of greens. The addition of Thai basil and a red bird’s eye chili gives the dish a heat to bring out the best of the broccoli. Best of all, the sophisticated update to the basic veggie belies a simple, straightforward recipe manageable for even the novice holiday cook.
“Dirty Candy: A Cookbook” is available for $20 through Amazon. Read the full recipe after the jump.
Ingredients
3 tablespoons minced Thai basil
1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon red-bird’s-eye chile
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large broccoli stalks
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 avocados
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Directions
In a small bowl, mix the basil, ginger, garlic, chile and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt into a rough paste. Trim the tough outsides of the broccoli stalks, shaping them into long rectangles. Then slice them thinly with a mandolin. Put the broccoli slices in a bowl and add the lime juice and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Toss to coat. Peel the avocado, then use a vegetable peeler to slice it into rectangles. On a plate, overlap the strips of broccoli and avocado and trim the edges so the sides match. To serve, drizzle the extra-virgin olive oil on the slices and add the basil paste on top.
