Saturday, April 9, 2011

ffwd - garlicky crumb-coated broccoli

To be fair, I've never made broccoli like this before. It's high on my list of favorite vegetables. I'm even fine with it plain, leftover and cold. Swimming in home-made hollandaise, slathered in butter, or in a homey southern-style cheesy crumby (in a good way!) casserole - those would be terrific ways to dress up this fine vegetable. But bread crumbs? with lemon? and garlic? Never thought of that!

I really need to get back into my ffwd groove - this was more a week for making soup for a friend, dealing with carpet cleaners, and of course, the opening home game in baseball! So, I'll admit it up front, I made this at the last minute. And generally, it was dinner. But it was a good dinner. Also, I took Dorie's advice and assumed it would only be good when it was made, so cut back the recipe. I probably wasn't particularly scientific about it, so my results might not have been strictly accurate. Just sayin'. 

like many Americans, I have become uber-lazy and typically buy already-cut-up broccoli
this time, I thought I should actually buy the "real" thing, since it kind of looked like
Dorie expected the actual stalks
oh, and there's my microplane grater hiding in the picture - adding fuel
to the "grater vs zester debate"


cooked broccoli, dutifully drying off, waiting for the finishing touches


no process photos this time,
clearly not a lot of time spent on arrangement either.... hmmm...
I thought this was good. One thing - since I wasn't particularly dilligent about the whole thing, I didn't get the zest evenly incorporated into the crumbs. What that meant was that occasionally there was a burst of lemon with a forkful of broccoli - and that was really great. It was nice to have it not all taste exactly the same. I also liked the contrast of the crunch of the topping with the flavor and juciness of the vegetables. I think this treatment would be terrific with other vegetables - asparagus would be a natural choice. But others would be just as good. In my family, I'm usually the one that can be counted on for making/bringing vegetables, so it's nice to have another version.

What didn't work? My broccoli never actually got fully warmed up when I mixed it in with the crumbs. I ended up just tossing the crumbs on top, because they didn't actually cling to the broccoli. But those are easily fixed. I also think you could easily make the crumbs ahead, cook the veggies at the last minute and toss it all together.

Verdict: Tasty!

10 comments:

  1. I think your dish looks great! And kudos for going with fresh. I just used frozen and still found it delicious. Oh, and I'm headed to Bed, Bath & Beyond today to look at zesters and microplanes.

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  2. It does look great. I've made a number of these FFwD recipes at the last minute, but none were as easy as this one. I agree that this makes a great meal practically all on its own.

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  3. My crumbs didn't cling much either. Oh it was so good wasn't it!!

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  4. it's ok that the crumbs didn't cling. i think the best part was toasting the crumbs in butter. yum!

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  5. I think the crumbs weren't designed to cling to the broccoli, mine certainly didn't. So you were not alone :-). Your idea to make the crumbs first then steam the broccoli is a great one!

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  6. Nana got hers done way early in the week and I ended up preparing this at the very last minute (i.e. I was stopping at the store AFTER work on Friday to pick up broccoli). So simple I could actually pull this off. And SO SO worth it.

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  7. My [nut]crumbs didn't cling either, but it was fun scooping some to eat with each floret. I agree with you, this recipe would go well with other veggies :)

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  8. Lightbulb moment: I think that your idea of cooking the crumbs ahead instead of the broccoli is the way to go!

    I also never thought to add garlic to broccoli but it really added to this dish. It looks like you didn't add any parsley or mint... I didn't and I didn't miss it - we loved this.

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  9. Hey, I am totally on team Mircroplane! So, bring that puppy front & center :-)

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  10. My crumbs didn't stick so well either, but the whole thing still tasted great with the crumbs sprinkled on top.

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