Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower

My friend of mine posted this on Facebook and I LOVE this recipe. The recipe is from the Amateur Gourmet (and well, really, Ina Garten; the Barefoot Contessa)! If you have a husband, older kids, know of anyone who won’t eat vegetables, or just want to do something other than steaming, you’ve got to try this recipe. Roasting/baking your veggies turns them into delightful, crunchy, tasty little morsels and oh with the melted parmesan cheese on top, you totally forget you are eating vegetables and before you know it, you’ve eaten the entire plate!

Ingredients:

• Broccoli (amount; up to you)
• Cauliflower
• 4-5 tbs Olive oil
• Garlic (4-5 cloves; up to you) or minced garlic
• Basil (optional)
• Lemon (optional)
• Parmesan cheese to sprinkle
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 425.

Take 2-3 pounds of broccoli (I just got two large bunches), cut into florets (but relatively big ones or you can just cut florets into half). Dry the veggies THOROUGHLY. That is, if you wash them. From the Amateur Gourmet “I saw an episode of Julia Child cooking with Jacques Pepin once when Pepin revealed he doesn’t wash a chicken before putting it in a hot oven: “The heat kills all the germs,” he said in his French accent. “If bacteria could survive that oven, it deserves to kill me.” By that logic, then, I didn’t wash my broccoli; I wanted it to get crispy and brown. If you’re nervous, though, just wash and dry it obsessively.”

From Alice: Put the broccoli and cauliflower in a big bowl, add the olive oil (4-5 tablespoons, don’t go crazy with the olive oil. If you do, the veggies will taste too oily), salt, pepper and garlic. If you want to just toss in the garlic cloves, you can do that or if you are using minced garlic, add that in too. TOSS. Then pour on a cookie sheet. (Ina says 5 Tbs olive oil, 1 1/2 tsps kosher salt, 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper, but I just eyeballed it.)

Bake in the oven 20 to 25 minutes, until “crisp-tender and the tips of some of the florets are browned.” When it’s finished, sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the veggies. Use as little or as much as you want!

 

From Ina and the Amateur Gourmet:

“When it’s done, take it out of the oven–and here’s where it gets really good–zest a lemon over the broccoli, squeeze the lemon juice over the broccoli, add 1.5 Tbs more olive oil, 3 Tbs toasted pine nuts (I left those out), and 1/3 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. She also has you add 2 Tbs julienned fresh basil, but I left that out too.”

ENJOY!