Hot, hot, heat - what to eat?

Yeeeeeah... When it's 47 degrees with the humidex, there's no way I'm barbecuing, sautéing or turning my oven on. So what's for dinner? Well, I scrounged around in my fridge and found the following to make something tasty: local organic broccoli (partly softened because of my forgetfulness - you'd think that when you pay $4.99 for a broccoli, you wouldn't abandon it in your crisper for a week and a half), a half used-up red onion, an unopened tub of sour cream (expiring in three days - what is wrong with me?!?), and a bag of pecan halves.

Thankfully, I'd just come back from the Gatineau Costco with a abundant selection of lovely Québécois cheeses (NEVER go there before dinner! Go in for toilet paper, leave with fifty tons of dairy. Stupid seductive cheese.) I'd also stopped by my favourite boulangerie, which will be featured in an upcoming GMZ, to pick up the best traditional baguette in town, so I knew this broccoli-sour cream concoction would be a salad of some sort. So away I went!

First, I broke up the broccoli into bite-size florets and steamed them until they were al dente and that beautiful, brilliant shade of jade green. Then I plunged them into an ice bath to stop the cooking and prevent them from turning that gross, overcooked-army-fatigue green. While they were cooling off, I got on with the dressing.

I finely chopped some of the red onion until I roughly had 1/4 cup. I threw that in a bowl and then slopped on four or five greedily full tablespoons of sour cream with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, tasting to make sure the flavour was to my liking.

Then, I threw in the broccoli and tossed it around to make sure every last floret was coated in creamy deliciousness.

Finally, I chopped up a small handful of pecans (this could also work with another sweet nut, like toasted almond slivers), and scattered them on top of the salad. There. Poof. Done.

Marc and I then set up din-dins outside and had the salad, with the baguette and cheese as accompaniments, and a fine glass of rosé from the BIB. Please pardon the less-than-Gourmet-magazine-worthy Arizona themed plates. The dishwasher was full, and we hadn't done a load in time for the impromptu photo shoot...

That was a damn tasty hot summer night dinner (partly thanks to Marc filling those wine glasses nearly to the brim... Holy moley!) If I were to make the salad again, however, I'd probably give the broccoli a bit more of a shake to remove as much water as possible before adding it to the dressing. You've got to have the thick richness of the sour cream to make the broccoli sing.

Bongo loves broccoli.

Ti-Gars too!

À la prochaine!