Rosie Makes A Broccoli Salad.

A while back,
 Mr. Hawthorne and I tried a new restaurant - The Firefly.
One of the dishes I took a liking to was the broccoli salad.
From their menu description:
 Broccoli, dried cranberries,
  candied nut pieces tossed in a sweet onion dressing.
 Sounds simple enough for me to recreate. First I'm starting on the nuts. Combination of both pecans and walnuts. About 2 cups pecans and walnuts.
My spices:
thyme
cayenne
Cajun seasoning
granulated garlic
oregano
 cumin
onion powder
 maybe 1/2 cup brown sugar

About a teaspoon each Cajun seasoning and dried thyme.

And a teaspoon of oregano and onion powder.

Why not a teaspoon of cumin?

Little bit of garlic powder and cayenne.

Action shots!

Add sugar and enough water to just cover.

I decided to add in another 1/4 cup brown sugar.

I cooked this over medium heat for about thirty minutes. Then I spread the nuts in a single layer in my baking sheet and sprinkled a little more sugar over top and added some pats of butter.

Bake in low oven- about 300 degrees,
stirring occasionally, until nuts are nice and toasty.

About 20 minutes.
While the nuts were toasting, I started on my broccoli.

One head of broccoli, trimmed and peeled.
 One big handful of cranberries.

I steamed my broccoli for about a minute,
 then immediately plunged it into a prepared ice-water bath.

The ice water stops the cooking and sets the pretty bright green color.

After draining my just-tender broccoli,
I added in some chopped red onion.

... and the dried cranberries.

Now for a sweet onion dressing:
 1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cider vinegar
 1/2 sweet onion, grated
 1/2 tsp salt
 1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 cup vegetable oil
 salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan.

Heat until sugar dissolves.

Why not add in about a tablespoon of poppy seeds?

Keep stirring.
Dressing can be served warm or refrigerated.

Add cooled nuts into broccoli salad.

Pour in sweet onion dressing and enjoy.

I love cool, refreshing summer salads like this.
 I enjoy the crisp-tender bite into the broccoli.
I like the crunch of the nuts contrasting
 with the smoothness and toothiness of the cranberry.
 You have sweet.
There's a bit of tart.
And there's some heat in there.

Thanks for the idea, Firefly!