Roasted Potato Broccoli Salad
[Vegan]

For the Roasted Garlic:

1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Cut the top of the garlic head off so that the tops of the cloves are exposed. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of oil over the top of the exposed garlic head.
2. Place in the oven for 20 minutes or until the cloves are soft. FYI I did not use aluminum foil while roasting my garlic, and it turned out great! If you do use aluminum foil, the garlic will probably need to cook for longer. Once the garlic is done. Set aside and let it cool down.

For the Roasted Potatoes:

1. While the garlic is roasting, you can begin to prep your other vegetables. First, wash 1.5 lbs of mini potatoes and then chop them into quarters. Season them with 2 teaspoons of oil and pepper, and salt. Set aside.
2. Once the garlic is done in the oven, turn the temperature up to 450ºF and line a baking sheet. Place the potatoes on the baking sheet and in the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, flip/toss the potatoes and bake for another 5-10 minutes. Then let the potatoes cool, adding a sprinkle of sea salt.

For the Roasted Broccoli:

1. While the potatoes are roasting, you can prepare the broccoli. I used roughly 2 heads of broccoli and finely chopped the broccoli. Season the broccoli with 1 teaspoon of oil and set aside. You can put the broccoli in the oven with the potatoes to speed up the process. The broccoli needs to go on a lined baking sheet for 12-15 minutes in a 450ºF oven.

For the Candied Pecans:

1. Over medium-high heat in a saucepan, add the water, coconut sugar, and cinnamon.
2. Whisk the mixture so that it is well combined, and when it begins to bubble, add the pecans and stir.
3. Let the mixture continue to bubble while continuously stirring (3-5 minutes) until most of the liquid has disappeared and the pecans have now become glazed with the mixture.
4. Next, have a piece of parchment paper handy and pour the pecans onto the paper. Separate the pecans as best you can right away, or they will clump together. Let them cool for 10 minutes until adding them to the salad.

For the Dressing:

1. Soak the cashews in hot water for 20 minutes, drain the water and add the cashews to a high-speed blender. Once the roasted garlic has cooled down, squeeze out each clove from the garlic head and add to a blender. Making sure it’s only the cloves (no skins left on) that are being added.
2. Add the rest of the dressing ingredients to a high-speed blender with the roasted garlic and blend until smooth. I like to put this in the fridge before using it, but that’s totally just a personal preference.

Assembling the Salad:

1. At this point, the potatoes and broccoli should be now out of the oven cooling. I did eat my salad when it was still a little warm, and it was delicious. But you can wait for everything to cool down if you want more of a traditional cooled potato salad. I ended up having it cooled the next day after storing it in the fridge, and it was amazing that way too.
2. Chop the onion very finely and add to a big salad bowl. Add the cooled potatoes and broccoli to the bowl as well as the candied pecans.
3. Begin by adding a little bit of the dressing at a time and tossing the salad. I didn’t end up using all of the dressing I made (although I did use most of it), so I will leave that up to you for personal preference. But I would suggest adding a little at a time to start with.
4. Store the salad in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days. The dressing can remain in the fridge as well if you have any remaining.