Sauteed Broccoli
My mom makes the best broccoli I've ever had. This dish is an extension of that by adding some fresh tomatoes and roasting some onions that I hadn't used yet. Her recipe involves sautéing garlic in oil and then adding the broccoli and some stock to generate steam. She then covers it until it's done cooking. Simple but ridiculously good. A staple of my childhood. The broccoli gets a lot of it's taste from the garlic that flavors the oil. The tomatoes and wine give a little acid to the dish and the roasted onions give a hint of sweetness here and there. The finishing salt gives it the nice salty crunch you're looking for, which also allows you to go a little lighter on the sodium while you cook. This can work as a great side dish or stand on it's own as a full meal.
The Process
Ingredients
1lbs grape tomatoes
2lbs broccoli
10-12 red pearl onions
3 shallots
6 bulbs garlic
kosher salt
onion powder
canola oil
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup sauvignon blanc white wine
red pepper flakes
Cookware
Large Fry Pan
Baking dish or oven safe pan
Short and Sweet Instructions
Roast the tomatoes and onions in separate pans
Saute the shallots and garlic
Deglaze with white wine and chicken stock
Saute the broccoli
Mix in onions and tomatoes
Season and serve
Prep
Tomatoes: wash tomatoes
Shallots and Garlic: Dice garlic. Slice shallots.
Onions: peel and cut in half
Broccoli: wash, trim bottoms, pull stalks off one by one, cutting the main stem if it gets too long. Slice big pieces in half.
Cooking Instructions
Tomatoes
heat oven to 400º
toss tomatoes in canola oil
season with kosher salt and onion powder
toss twice
season again
put in a pan or baking dish and bake for 20-30 minutes
Set aside
Pearl Onions
cut in half
peel
toss in canola and kosher salt
roast at 400º, cut side down 20 minutes or until no resistance
Set aside
Broccoli
in a large sauté pan, heat canola over medium heat
add shallot and garlic
sauté until golden brown
sprinkle with red pepper flakes to desired heat. you don’t need much to get some heat.
add wine to deglaze and turn heat to high
reduce by 2/3
add broccoli
add a good pinch of salt, garlic and onion powder
toss to coat
add the chicken stock
cover the pan
cook for 6-8 minutes or until no resistance in broccoli stems
remove lid
add onions and tomatoes (if the tomatoes are sitting in their juices, you can add this too, but taste first so it doesn’t just taste like tomato water.
gently toss to combine
adjust seasoning
add some black pepper
plate
finish with some extra virgin olive oil and finishing salt like Fleur de sel or Maldon.
Plating
Spoon into a plate
Drizzle with a good extra virgin olive oil
Season with finishing salt
Crack some fresh black pepper over top
You can sprinkle a little Sherry Vinegar over top if desired. Don't go too far because the dish already has acid in it from the tomatoes and wine.