Broccoli Bow-tie Salad

Dear Baci reader, 

Welcome back to my blog! I have taken a little hiatus, but I'm back and ready to share some new recipes in the upcoming posts.

Let's begin with a summer-time favorite. Recently M's parents were out visiting us and we started talking about this recipe: broccoli bow-tie salad.  M's mom usually makes it, in a larger batch, for the annual 4th of July picnic.  I had a hankering when I saw a similar version (pasta free) in the deli case at the grocery store. Plus I thought I could use up a shallot (we have an excess of shallots from our CSA - community supported agriculture - basket) and the leftover broccoli and bacon in the fridge. Here's a similar recipe without the pasta and with sugar instead of honey.

Ingredients:
small head of broccoli, chopped into bite-size pieces 
3-4 strips of cooked  bacon, cut into bite-size pieces
1/4 of red onion or whole shallot, diced into small pieces
handful of raisins or dried cranberries
bow tie pasta, cooked (enough for 4 servings)
several tablespoons of honey
about 1/4 cup mayonnaise
about 2-3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste 

1. In a large mixing bowl, add the chopped broccoli, onion, bacon, and raisins (or dried cranberries) to the cooked pasta. 
2. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the mayo, salt and pepper, vinegar, and honey.  You may want to add more mayo and/or vinegar depending on your taste and/or the consistency.
3. Add the mayo mixture to the broccoli pasta salad. Gently toss together.
4. Refrigerate for a few hours before serving.  

Serves 4-6 people.

Note - Make this recipe your own - feel free to add more raisins/cranberries or skip the bacon if you want to make this a non-meat side dish.