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When I was making the Hawaiian Meatloaf the other day I wanted something green on the plate to complement the meaty goodness and the delicious garlic mashed potatoes. Then, I remembered seeing this little gem in our Food 2 Test Queue and it seemed very quick and simple…so I decided to give it a shot!
Since these guys were prepared on the same evening as the Hawaiian Meatloaf, the Pandora Station was the same – Michael Jackson Radio.
Step 1: The recipe doesn’t really specify the quantity, so I went with two broccoli heads. Give them a good rinse.
Step 2: Cut the tree trunk and separate into individual broccoli pieces.
Step 3: Put broccoli into a Ziploc bag.
Step 4: Add some olive oil to coat.
Step 5: Season with salt.
Step 6: And pepper.
Step 7: Give it a shake and make sure the broccoli is coated and seasoned.
We take our broccoli shaken, not stirred.
Step 8: Dump the seasoned broccoli onto a aluminum covered baking sheet.
Step 9: My OCD self had to spread them out somewhat evenly.
Step 10: Spread minced garlic over the broccoli.
Step 11: Which, you’ll notice, is kind of impossible to do. So, I ended up just sticking a bit of garlic on each of the little broccoli heads.
Step 12: Roast at 425 F for 20-25 minutes.
And Voila! Your oven roasted broccoli bites are ready to serve.
Ready for a taste?
Review
The ingredients: The recipe this simple, easy alternative approach to broccoli comes from doesn’t really have a list of ingredients or their quantities. It is definitely one of those eyeball recipes that will change based on your personal preferences. I ended up using two broccoli heads, a tablespoon of olive oil, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt and peppers. In terms of ingredient availability, everything that was used today you probably either already have in your fridge/pantry or you can easily find in your local supermarket.
The recipe: The recipe is as easy as it gets. It’s a paragraph long and gives you all the necessary information. I love the approach of using a Ziploc to coat the broccoli, but if I do this again I’ll probably go with just a Tupperware container to appease the recycling/reusing hippie inside me. The post doesn’t come with any step-by-step images, so if you need more detail, follow 2girlsandapin as we prepared this simple, easy roasted broccoli since we like to take pictures of every minuscule detail!
The flavor: This tasted exactly like what you’d expect roasted broccoli to taste like. It had a very nice and crunchy texture, but still tasted like broccoli. The temperature and the time it was roasting was a bit too long for the minced garlic on top, which ended up almost burning to a crisp and gave the broccoli a bit of a bitter aftertaste. However, once I knocked the garlic off the broccoli, it was really very tasty and a great alternative to french fries.
Issues: The time/temperature this dish spent in the oven I thought needed to be amended (at least for my oven). I would take down the temperature to 350 or 400 and go down to 15-20 minutes of roasting to help this recipe keep the broccoli’s gorgeous green and prevent the garlic from turning into a lump of coal on top of the broccoli head. Also, I can understand the decision to use minced garlic with this recipe, since the two flavors are fantastic together, but “spreading” minced garlic on top of individual heads of broccoli is not an easy thing to do, so next time I make this I will probably use garlic powder instead.
Comments: I think this recipe has a lot of room for creativity in terms of how you can season it. I would think adding some minced ginger/soy/honey sauce into the mix would also be delightful.
Final Verdict: This recipe’s yum factor is a good 9/10. It was very tasty, once I peeled off the brunt minced garlic off.
