Broccoli for many people is really a take it or leave it kind of vegetable, but it's one you should be eating more of. It's pretty much nature's little miracle of avoiding all those nasty diseases Americans seem to have a copyright on, such as heart disease and cancer related to our terrible diet. Oh and did I mention its got about twice the vitamin C of an orange?
Unfortunately, most of the time its vapid and uninspired, because someone left it in the steamer 30 seconds longer than they should have. It's surprisingly unforgiving; You either need to watch it like a hawk, or blanch it and then give it a quick saute in something with some taste. I wanted a more hands off approach, that would avoid any boiling (which reduces the anti-cancer and DNA repairing compounds), give you some time flexibility, and still let you make a dish with complex and well developed flavors.
Garlic and lemon are a perfect pair for these little green flowers, but I wanted these flavors spread evenly all over the florets, and to have a chance to really develop. A quick toss in olive oil and lemon (while delicious) before a blast in the oven wasn't gonna cut it.
The key here is to once again tap our friend fat, and use him to bring us some flavor that would otherwise be unavailable to us. As I have said before, there are these wonderful little flavor molecules all around us, just waiting to be discovered. Simmering the garlic and thin slices of lemon breaks down the fat soluble flavor molecules in the garlic and lemon (plus the rind of the lemon, which is much more flavorful than the juice alone).
For 2 heads of broccoli, you'll need the juice of half a lemon, the other half you slice very thin, 3 cloves of garlic minced, and 3 good glugs of olive oil.
Set the oven at 400.
Trim and wash your broccoli, cutting it into long spears.
Lightly saute the garlic and lemon slices in the oil, just 2-3 minutes, DO NOT let the garlic brown.
In a roasting pan, put broccoli, sprinkle with salt, toss in infused olive oil, and cook for 15-20 minutes, tossing halfway through.
Sprinkle with lemon juice and fresh ground pepper, serve immediately.
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