roasted broccoli

[calimac]

Poppy Bush hated broccoli and Obama hates beets. I'm with Obama on that one, and around here we love broccoli.

I've been making oven-roasted asparagus for a long time now (baste with lots and lots of melted butter, pan-roast at 400 for about an hour, depending on the thickness of the stalks), but I wasn't sure if this would work with other veggies, and recipes I'd seen were for root veggies that I don't much care for.

So I grabbed this recipe for roasted broccoli with great interest, and tried it last night. Dab the broccoli with garlic, olive oil, and a little salt; pan-roast at 425 for 20 minutes; then toss with shredded parmesan (well, we use asiago), roasted pine nuts, lemon juice, more olive oil, and a bit of basil. (The recipe said red pepper, but we neither like nor have it, and the accompanying article suggested that it was a substitute for basil. So basil it was.)

This was quite unlike anything I'd made before, and definitely unlike anything in the broccoli recipe book I once bought at the long-gone Greenfield Broccoli Festival, which is full of really plain mid-American recipes, of which the best are casseroles made with corn, cheese, flour, and milk. Dull but hearty. This, though, was tangy and quite delicious.

Comments

[irontongue.livejournal.com]

We roast a lot of vegetables, and make asparagus tossed in a small amount of olive oil and some salt. If you like it, try roasting cauliflower, using the same treatment: olive oil, salt, roast until one side is browning, turn over, continue to roast. It'll shrink a lot in the process.

Pine nuts, parmesan, and hot pepper (if that's what you mean by "red" pepper): maybe based on a Neapolitan recipe.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I don't mean anything by "red pepper": that's what the recipe says. I presume it means mixed red pepper flakes, the kind found in pizzerias, or else ground cayenne. I didn't use either. Basil is fine.

[irontongue.livejournal.com]

Oh - if you like carrots, they're great roasted too.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Alas, see reference to "recipes I've seen were for [roasting] root veggies that I don't much care for."

[irontongue.livejournal.com]

Seemed possible carrots were not in the disliked category, despite their root veg. origin.

[danine.livejournal.com]

This sounds similar to Alton Brown's version that's supposed to get by even supertasters. Have not had the nerve to inflict it on slothman.

[jane-dennis.livejournal.com]

I find roasting transforms a number of veggies that I'd otherwise not eat at all: parsnips come immediately to mind, but also beets. I was convinced I disliked beets until Lynne Rosetto Kasper's glowing discussion of beets, golden, roasted. Those can be really good. (I'm still only tolerant of the red ones, even roasted.) Parsnips roasted become sensationally creamy and nice.

I usually just roast with olive oil and some sea salt or kosher salt. I do add a bit of butter to the beets at the table.

Oh, and Happy New Year Gondor-style.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Welcome, Jane.

I may try your suggestion ... some time when I'm feeling very daring.