Broccoli Two Ways
Posted on | November 21, 2008 | No Comments
Broccoli is by far my favorite vegetable. Nutritious and versatile and affordable, it has become my standby vegetable for quick dinners as well as for feeding larger parties. I’ve played around with several recipes and have narrowed the options down to two of my favorites: Broccoli in Chicken Stock with Parm and Pepper, and Red Pepper Broccoli. I find the former goes quite well with lighter dishes in which the flavors aren’t overwhelmed by another prominent spice or sauce on the plate. The latter of the two goes quite well with Italian and even Asian cuisine and can be paired with most grilled dishes as a spicy side. On occasion, I eat this dish a snack.
Broccoli in Chicken Stock with Pepper and Parm
Cut Broccoli into floret
Cut rough out edges off stems and slice into batons (the center of broccoli stems are sweet and crunchy and take equally as well to the pan as they do to the crudite and dip tray)
In a large skillet, add enough chicken stock to submerge broccoli halfway when added to the pan. Add a dusting of white pepper. Maybe a half teaspoon, but no more. Turn heat just above whatever LOW setting you have on your stove. You want an aggressive bubbling, just above a simmer
Add broccoli, turning every so often for roughly 4-5 minutes. Cover for 1 minute and 3 seconds.
Remove from heat and drain broccoli in a colander for a quick drain of the stock, adding steaming hot broccoli almost immediately to a bowl and shave fresh Parm to the hot broccoli, tossing once and grating a little bit more over the top. If you have a box grater, use the second finest grate.
Crack freshly ground pepper over the top, add a pinch of salt and serve.
If your family is anything like mine, people take a while to get to the table. This dish is best if served very hot, so make it the last thing you do prior to serving. If it’s going to be five or ten minutes before people sit, cover with paper toil rather than foil.
Broccoli in Olive Oil and Garlic with Red Pepper and Rice Wine Vinegar
Cut Broccoli down to florets, retaining the stems as mentioned above (if this is your thing)
Blanch Broccoli. Boil salted water and add broccoli for roughly one minute, removing immediately to a colander to drain.
In a skillet, add a generous glug (a glug, in my mind, is an aural measurement – I hear the oil make a “glug” sound as air makes its way into the bottle as I pour. For these purposes, you want enough to have standing oil in the pan. As we’re using the oil as in essence a condiment, it’s okay to go a little heavy on the oil.
Heat on low for about a minute or two.
Add just under a teaspoon of red pepper flakes and rough chopped garlic – should be large chunks for ease of removal as the garlic is merely intended to flavor the oil. IMPORTANT – you don’t want the garlic or the flakes to cook as much as simmer. They should barely bubble. If the garlic starts to turn brown quickly, remove it or the dish will be ruined by a bitter smoky garlic taste. if you’re worried about the step, simply cook the garlic for a few minutes until it barely starts to turn golden and remove with a spoon.
Add a tablespoon of rice wine vinegar with a spoon. Don’t pour this in from high up, add as close to the oil as possible as the introduction of the vinegar is likely to cause the oil to spit – why it’s important to either have a good apron or not to wear anything you wouldn’t mind having small oil polka dots.
Simmer this mixture for another minute and then add teh broccoli, turning and tossing often to coat the mixture. Does this until a test piece of broccoli is hot when you taste it.
The broccoli should be cooked through, but still crunchy.
Serve immediately with a final dusting of sea salt or kosher salt – anything with large crystals.
More later,
Will
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