Well, I have to admit that I couldn’t really come up with a side dish made of organic apples and broccoli. What I would do is put them in a salad, and make a generic vinaigrette salad dressing out of undiluted frozen apple juice concentrate to go on it.
But before I make it up, let me say that I would also parboil the broccoli. I mean that you break and cut it into small florets, blanch them in boiling water for a minute and then drain them. Plunge them into icewater while they are still bright green and what you end up with will be much easier to eat.
Apples can be sliced or chunked into a green salad as well, but remember not to use the pectin-rich green apples like Granny Smith for this purpose. Many recipes don’t go into this information, and from what I see in Tucson’s stores, some food manufacturers don’t know that you don’t eat green apples raw. They market a lot of super-decorated, calorie-laden candied apples that look like Grannies. People do like their tart flavor, especially in the raw state, but I still advise against eating them that way.
I had my first husband complain that I had bought a bag of bad apples years ago, because I bought them intending to make an apple pie—which is of course Granny Smith apples’ forte. As they say in Illinois, when you are in a hurry you can always “eat green apples and double up.” This is an apple joke for those who get tummy distress from the pectin in the green apples. It gets processed by your body heat and results in mild constipation.
My husband-at-the-time didn’t exactly find it amusing, though, so I am passing that along to my readers: don’t eat green apples raw. And of course you learn to tell the difference between Granny Smiths, which never actually turn another color—because they are as ripe as they are going to be—and Golden Delicious apples, which are meant to be eaten raw and may be greenish when you buy them.
You solve the mystery by paying attention to the individual stickers that are placed on fruit and vegetables nowadays, specifying what kind of apples or whatever. Golden Delicious apples are so named because they have little competition in the flavor department unless you cook them, and if you do they won’t like it. They tend to get mushy, so don’t do that.
When you shop for apple cider vinegar, go to Whole Foods or Sunflower Supermarket in Tucson, or any other store where you can get Bragg’s apple cider vinegar, which is a “living” food. It contains something called “mother,” the culturing agent that produces it, and Bragg will be glad to give you a lot of information about the whole use of cider vinegar for health purposes if you check them out online.
And just so you have it, here’s the apple vinaigrette for your apple-broccoli purifying salad:
APPLE VINAIGRETTE
From Margot Fernandez
Ingredients:
1 cup organic salad oil such as safflower, grapeseed or canola
¼ cup organic apple cider vinegar: I recommend Bragg’s
½ cup unsweetened, undiluted organic apple juice concentrate
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon ground white pepper
1 generous teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 clove or organic garlic, or to taste
Small piece of onion, or to taste
Juice of ½ fresh organic lemon
Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Process until it is completely incorporated. Move to a glass storage jar and refrigerate until it used.
This dressing will contribute to a rather delicately-flavored salad, so I would recommend it with a dinner concentrating on white fish such as cod or haddock, and a side dish like Potatoes Anna that is pretty much potatoes, butter, salt and pepper.
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