Sauteed Broccoli with Garlic Recipe ~ With a Secret!

George H. W. Bush hates broccoli, and if he’d have been President when I was 10 years old, I would have used it as an excuse with my mother to avoid eating broccoli.Â The bad thing was George Bush was President when I was 16.

It wasn’t until The Lucky Wife and I were married that I actually began to like broccoli.Â The main reason was because of the way I cooked it.Â It’s different than the standard steamed broccoli covered with cheese, which some people really enjoy, mind you.Â If you are a fan of our blog, you should know by now that The Well-Fed Family loves garlic.Â Though few people can stand to be around us, we consume it on a regular basis.

This Saturday evening’s recipe is a 4-ingredient recipe.Â It may be basic, easy and simple, but it’s good.Â To illustrate this point, we recently served our pastor a meal during his recovery from surgery.Â I made the first recipe we served here on this blog, Smothered Pecan-Encrusted Chicken with Apple Butter, and my sauteed broccoli.Â The pastor’s wife commented to us in a thank-you note that their 16-year-old flipped out over the broccoli, and she wanted to know how to make it.

Enjoy.

Chef’s Note:Â Â

In the instructions, you will notice I cook the broccoli in the microwave with a small amount of water.Â It’s standard practice in culinary arts to blanch raw vegetables by flash cooking them in boiling, salted water, which basically means cooking them for a short period of time in boiling water and then chilling immediately in ice water to stop the cooking.Â This leaves the vegetables tender, but crisp, and not mushy and overcooked, preparing them for any additional cooking method you want to utilize.Â Â

Traditional blanching, to me, is time-consuming and creates unnecessary work and dirty dishes.Â I have found that cooking the vegetables in the microwave with a small amount of water for a short period of time and then immediately placing the vegetables (after draining the water) into the hot oil of a saute pan achieves the exact same results.Â And as a bonus, you can put the completed product right back into the same casserole dish used in the microwave for storing leftovers or for serving.

Sauteed Broccoli with Garlic

Ingredients:

3 bunches of fresh broccoli
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
Kosher salt
1/8 cup olive oil

Instructions:

Using kitchen shears, cut florets off heads of broccoli and place florets in microwavable covered casserole dish.Â Discard stems or save to make cream of broccoli soup.Â
Add approximately 1/4 cup of water. Cover and place in microwave. Cook on high for approximately 4 minutes or until broccoli is crisp-tender.
Place a 10-inch non-stick skillet on medium-high heat. When hot, add olive oil. Drain water from casserole dish and place broccoli into pan. Toss broccoli in hot oil until completely coated.
Add garlic and saute for approximately 1 minute.
Season with Kosher salt to your liking.

NOTE: If using frozen broccoli, follow directions as stated with the exception of the water that is added to the microwavable casserole dish. There is enough moisture on the frozen broccoli to provide steam needed to blanch the broccoli.

NEED ANY OF THE TOOLS USED?

Rating scale

1 star - Feed it to the dog
2 stars - Surprise your neighbor

3 stars - Definite keeper

4 stars - Looking forward to leftovers

5 stars - Clean plate and nap time! Are there enough ingredients left to make it again soon?

The Chef - 4 Stars

The Lucky Wife - 5 Stars

The Well-Fed Son (5 years old) - 4 Stars
The Well-Fed Daughter (21 months old) - 5 Stars

*Rate it yourself in the comments!

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More great ideas: Makin’ You Crave Monday, Titus 2sdays, Domestically Divine Tuesday

About the Author

Raised in eastern North Carolina, The Chef has always most loved southern cuisine. While working for a top resort just after finishing Culinary School at Johnson and Wales University, when they still had a campus located in Charleston, South Carolina, he began learning about Gullah cuisine and enjoys it as well. He's a family man and country boy at heart, loves hunting and is a big fan of the John Boy and Billy Big Show and the Carolina Panthers.