Ina Garten-Inspired Roasted Broccoli
The recipe says toss the broccoli with olive oil, garlic and salt and roast for twenty-five minutes. Follow it exactly and the garlic will be black.
Sliced garlic is thin, sugary and sitting on hot metal, and at 220°C it goes from golden to acrid in about the time it takes to check on it once. Broccoli needs twenty-five minutes. Garlic needs five. Put them in together and you are choosing which one to ruin.
Roast the broccoli on its own and scatter the garlic over for the last five minutes. It softens, turns pale gold, and tastes sweet.
Jump to the recipe ↓Ina Garten-Inspired Roasted Broccoli
Serves 6 · Side
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 25 min
- Total
- 35 min
Easyfew steps, few ingredients
Ingredients
- 2 heads broccoli, about 900 g, in florets, stems peeled and sliced
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- 40 g Parmesan, grated
- 2 tbsp toasted pine nuts, optional
Method
- Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan) with a sheet pan inside.
- Dry the broccoli thoroughly. Toss with the oil, salt and pepper.
- Spread on the hot pan in one layer — two pans if it is crowded.
- Roast , undisturbed.20 minutes
- Scatter the garlic over and roast more.5 minutes
- Off the heat, add the lemon zest and juice, Parmesan and pine nuts.
Dry the broccoli properly
Washed broccoli holds water in every crevice of every floret, and that water has to boil off before any browning starts. A wet head steams itself for the first ten minutes and comes out limp and khaki. Spin it, or leave it on a towel while the oven heats.
Do not throw the stem away
Peel the tough outer layer off the stalk and slice the inside into coins. It is sweeter than the florets, it roasts to something closer to a chip, and it is a third of the weight of the head. Most of it goes in the bin out of habit.
Lemon at the end, never before
Acid added before roasting breaks down the chlorophyll and turns green vegetables a dull olive within minutes. The same lemon squeezed over at the end keeps the colour and tastes brighter, because none of it has cooked away.
Storing
Three days. It reheats reasonably in a hot oven, badly in a microwave. Cold roasted broccoli is very good chopped into a grain salad.
Questions people ask
Why did my garlic burn?
It went in at the start. Twenty-five minutes at roasting heat is far too long for sliced garlic.
Why is my broccoli soggy?
It was wet, or the pan was crowded. Both cause steaming instead of roasting.
Can I use frozen broccoli?
It carries too much water and will not brown. Roast it if you like, but expect a different dish.
Should I use the stems?
Yes. Peel and slice them — they are sweeter than the florets.
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