Caramelized Broccoli with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

This post has been entered in In The Bag for January.

This is one of those dishes that hardly deserve the name “recipe”, because it is so simple to throw together, and so easy to vary according to your personal taste. Maybe I should just call it a method that can be applied to any number of fresh veggies. And – it is really two methods in one, because the vinaigrette would be great on salads as well as cooked vegetables. I plan to drizzle it over the pork chops we’ll be having with this broccoli, to kind of tie the meal together. If caramelized broccoli sounds odd to you, just trust me and give it a try. I promise it doesn’t taste burned. Well – unless you do burn it of course. Broccoli gets a rich, almost nutty flavor when it is deeply browned. Yum.

Start by roasting the garlic. And, no, you don’t need this much for the vinaigrette. Once we run out of the locally grown stuff, I often buy garlic at Sam’s Club where it is very inexpensive. That leaves me plenty to roast. Cut the stem end until the cloves inside are revealed. Arrange in a baking dish so that the heads will remain upright. Drizzle lightly with some good olive oil, and sprinkle with kosher salt and some freshly ground pepper.Roast at 325 degrees for 40 minutes to an hour – until the cloves are very soft and a bit browned on the ends. Cool, and then pick or squeeze out the cloves. I picked them out because I knew I would want to take some photos, but normally, I just gently squeeze the heads over a small dish and most everything just comes right out. You can discard the skins, but they make a very nice addition to stock, so you can save them in the freezer for that if you like. You will want to add some fresh garlic cloves to the stock as well, and make sure you strain out the skins before using.Now – to the vinaigrette.
Here are all the ingredients:
4 to 6 roasted cloves of garlic
The juice of 1 large lemon
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
salt, pepper and herbs
You can use whatever herbs you like. I used tarragon, and being out of fresh stuff, I used dried and made sure to leaver a bit of extra time for the vinaigrette to sit so the tarragon could get hydrated to release the flavor. Use whatever herbs you like. I use 1/2 teaspoon of dried – would have been about a teaspoon and a half or so if I’d had fresh.
Mash the garlic to a paste. I know that 4 to 6 cloves may seem like a lot, but roasted garlic is much milder than raw garlic. And, of course, you can start with less if you are afraid it will be too much. You can always add more later if you like, but you won’t be able to take it back out.Juice the lemon right into a 2 cup measuring cup. You can microwave the lemon for 10 seconds or so and you’ll get more juice from it. This one yielded about 1/3 cup. Mix in the garlic, and about 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and 5 or 6 grinds of fresh pepper, and whatever herbs you like.Gradually whisk in about 1/2 cup of olive oil. It will emulsify with the other ingredients and turn kind of opaque. Set aside.Trim and cut broccoli into florets. You will need to wash it, but you want to make sure to get as much moisture back off of it as possible, because moisure will keep it from browning as nicely. You can use a salad spinner to remove the water, or just do it ahead a little and let it dry for a bit on the counter. This is two “crowns”, or tops from two smallish heads of broccoli. The stems work very nicely too – just make sure to peel them.You also want to have 1/4 cup of chicken broth and 1 tablespoon of raw sesame seeds standing by.I like to use my iron frying pan for this because it is great for browning and does it petty quickly. Put in about a tablespoon each of olive oil and butter, put over high heat and get nice and hot.Add the broccoli, trying to get the cut sides down as much as possible. Sprinkle lightly with kosher salt, leave the heat on high, and let the cut sides all get a nice color on them.Turn all of the pieces over and sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Like this. As soon as you see a bit of color on the second side, pour in the chicken broth, and put a lid on the pan. Steam for about 2 minutes, remove the lid and let cook until nearly all of the liquid boils away.Immediately remove to a plate and drizzle with the vinaigrette. It can be served hot or at room temperature. Does it get any easier than this?I made this just now, thinking I would heat it back up for dinner, but alas, the taste testing process severly depleted the amount so much that I will have to make more for dinner. The sacrifices I make for my blog…