The Best, Quick, Actually Delicious Broccoli a la Plancha
I love broccoli. Like, a lot. Just steamed w/ a pinch of salt, and I’m happy w/ my vegetable. However, most people (like my wife and kids) do not enjoy broccoli as much as I do. In fact, they don’t enjoy it at all; as my son says, “It’s gross”.
So, I’ve found two tricks to help people eat their veggies:
- Give it a fancy name
- Add some butter and seasonings
This recipe uses a very simple technique of “layering salt”, i.e. adding salt in more than one way. It also uses two different cooking methods, but don’t let these scare you; they’re stupid easy.
First, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the broccoli to that and cook until bright green and tender, probably about 5 minutes or so, then drain and set the broccoli aside. This is our first layer of salt (the broccoli will absorb some from the salted water) and our first cooking method. See? Stupid easy.
While the broccoli is cooking, add the butter to a heavy pan (cast iron if you can!) and melt over medium-high heat (tip: usually you want to add oil to a pan that’s already hot, but butter is an exception since it’s about 18% water, so adding to the cold pan and warming up helps prevent jumping butter).
When that’s ready, add the garlic and broccoli, sprinkle the salt (this is the second layer), pepper, garlic powder, and crushed red pepper flakes and saute for about 2 minutes. Enjoy immediately.
Notes and Riffs
- Just about any vegetable can be cooked like this, and you may need to adjust the cooking time a bit. I really like asparagus for this, and it takes about 2 minutes in the boiling water.
- All seasonings are optional. Play around with it!
- Some pepper sauce also goes nicely.
- This is also a great recipe for meal planning; you can boil the broccoli, keep in the refrigerator for a few days, then warm back up as you saute it.
Broccoli a la Plancha
Ingredients
- 2 c broccoli cut into spears
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- garlic powder to taste
- crushed red pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil
- Cook broccoli in salted water until bright green and tender, about 5 minutes, drain and set aside
- While the broccoli is cooking, heat the butter in a heavy pan (cast iron preferred) over medium heat
- Add the garlic and cooked broccoli to the pan, sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and crushed red pepper, saute until charred
- Serve immediately