I've seen chefs doing a style of cooking which I'm very much against... I believe it's called a 'hard saute' and basically involves getting a cast iron pan piping hot and searing vegetables. The vegetables get too dark and bitter for my taste. There doesn't seem to be a lot of 'cooking with passion' in the hard saute!
worse yet, restaurants are often deep frying broccoli and serving it as roasted...


Cooking Broccoli

Broccoli is a popular, delcious & healthy vegetable which is great boiled, steamed, stir-fried, batter fried or sauteed.

It's important to cook broccoli quickly, at high heat to retain the beautiful, green color.

Also cooking broccoli completely to convert the 'horseradishy' starch taste to more delicious broccoli flavor.

Prep Time: 10 min

Cooking Time: 10 min

Yield: 4 portions


Ingredients      

1  head     Broccoli, fresh                                         

2  oz.       Olive oil                                     

1/2 tsp    Kosher Salt                                       

t.t.            Black pepper                                   

                          


How to cook Broccoli, Broccolini & roasted Broccoli

Step 1

Rinse the broccoli in cool water and then cut the florets to similar size so they all cook evenly. Slice about 1/2 inch from the stem and peel the stem, discarding the peels. Cut the stem pieces into slices about 1/2 inch thick.

For broccolini, trim about 1/2 inch from the bottom, then peel the stems or cut each at the point where the stem starts to have leaves, separate the stems from the florets/leaves. (stems take a little longer to cook)

Step 2

To boil the broccoli or broccolini, simply place into a pot of boiling, salted water. The water should have enough salt so it has a 'sea water' saltiness to the taste. Boil until tender, about 6-8 minutes... you'll notice the color is still bright green but the broccoli is tender and sweet (not bitter/spicy).

I always boil the bottom stems of the broccolini for about 2 minutes, then add the florets and leaves and cook for 2 additional minutes.

Strain and season with salt, pepper and olive oil/butter.

Step 3

To roast the broccoli, simply place into bowl and season with salt, pepper and olive oil. Place into a preheated, oiled pan and into the preheated oven. (about 350F)  Roast until tender, about 8 minutes, you may want to gently toss the broccoli over so it browns evenly... you'll notice the color is still green but the broccoli is tender and sweet (not bitter/spicy).

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