Alright, so I’ve now officially started off my Recipes Series with two roasted vegetables.* But, can you really blame me? Roasted veggies are fantastic, and everyone should know how to make them since they can really class up any meal.
When I lived by myself before getting married, I steamed ALL my vegetables. I wasn’t trying to impress anybody—I was just trying to eat a healthy diet. I bought frozen vegetables, then steamed them on the stove. It was so engrained in me that I never really gave it much thought. However, I’ve since branched out and embraced a few new methods,** including buying fresh veggies and giving them a good roasting in the oven.
So how do I roast broccoli? It’s super easy and yields a result at least 1,370% better than steaming. It brings out the deliciousness of broccoli that I never knew existed. Without further ado…
First, Pick The Right Broccoli
Buy fresh broccoli. You could try this with defrosted, previously-frozen broccoli, but it’s not as good (I’ve tried). When you buy your fresh broccoli, opt for crowns. Bunch broccoli works, too, but it just means more material for the compost pile. Whichever variety you buy, ensure the “leaves” of the broccoli are nice and firm—the firmer the better. And as a rule of thumb, each crown usually yields about two medium servings, so choose accordingly.
Prep
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Wash your broccoli thoroughly under running water. Then shake it off. Next, cut it into bite size mini-trees. If the trees are too big to eat in a large bite, cut them in half.
Put all your little florets into a big bowl and sprinkle with salt and granulated garlic. Pour in a bit of extra virgin olive oil and stir up until all of your florets are coated. If there is excess olive oil, simply put your broccoli into a colander to drain off the extra before putting it onto a baking sheet. Separate the pieces so that they’re not touching each other and you’re all ready to put your soon-to-be-deliciousness into the oven.
Cooking
Pop your broccoli into the oven at 425 for 20-25 minutes. You’ll know they’re done when the leaves have a nice brownish tinge to them on the outsides of the florets.
Plate your broccoli immediately and enjoy the crispy, delicious flavor that’s sure to impress.
*Potatoes (my first Recipes Series topic) are technically vegetables.
**And kudos to my lovely wife who never used the word “boring” when nudging me to spread my cooking wings!
Excellente!