Accidental Recipes and the Best Broccoli Ever!

A couple of days ago we returned home from a trip to Target to discover

1 – We had a flat tire

and

2 – The large freezer in the garage was apparently defrosting inside, despite the door being firmly shut.

The tire had to wait till the next day for my sweet husband to attend to it (thankful both that Jay saw to the tire, and that he kindly switched cars with me so that I could ferry the rest of us to our appointment we needed to keep that morning).

The freezer worried me a little (had it stopped working suddenly?) but after a thorough questioning of the troops, I discovered that a little blonde-headed tyke had come upon the door slightly ajar earlier in the day (likely thanks to the youngest member of the family) and had dutifully shut it immediately, but didn’t realize he should maybe let the Momma of the house know.

The only food greatly affected other than my beloved Tin Roof ice cream appeared to be a package of pork chops near the opening, which I snatched out of the (mostly still) icy box, and took to the kitchen for a thorough inspection. Deeming them still slightly frozen and safe to cook with, I rinsed them with water, then dumped them into a ziplock bag with the following hastily-concocted marinade:

Grilled Pork Chops (aka the main supper course on Day one of South Beach Phase 1):

7-ish pork loin chops

1/2 cup remaining white balsamic vinaigrette in the fridge (Wow, I just learned how to spell “vinaigrette” been doing it wrong for years!)

splash of low sodium soy sauce

few more splashes balsamic vinegar

couple splooshes of dijon mustard (yes, I did say “Sploosh”…if you are wondering, I think a “sploosh” is just a tad larger than a “splash”.)

Toss into fridge overnight. Heat grill, and plop the pork chops on the rack. Cook till done, give yourself bonus points for nice dark grill marks in special patterns on either side of the lovely chops.

You can see that we also enjoyed broccoli that first night. Shout-out to my friend Chrys, mom to four boys ages 5 and under (God bless her) and the wonderful woman who shared this recipe with me. It is absolutely my favorite way to enjoy this delicious vegetable.

Oven-Roasted Broccoli:

About a pound (maybe 2 heads?) of broccoli, cut into pieces

2-ish cloves of minced garlic

2 tbs olive oil

sea salt to taste

fresh cracked pepper to taste

Fresh lemon juice (use half a lemon)

(optional) small sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese

Toss broccoli with garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. You careful cooks will do this in a bowl, me, I hate to get one more dish dirty so I just toss it all together on the cookie sheet I’m going to roast with. Pop the broccoli into a 425 degree oven, and roast about 10 minutes or until slightly browned around the edges. It will smell wonderful!! Remove from oven, spritz all over with the lemon juice, and if you like, sprinkle with parmesan. Now: try to keep from eating the entire panful before supper starts!!

Note: I will sometimes add cauliflower to the mix for fun, and to change the recipe up a bit. Ina Garten also has a wonderful take on this recipe, it makes about four times the amount listed here, and adds some additional ingredients which look delicious. I see Ina tosses her broccoli with the garlic and olive oil right there in the pan, too, so I consider myself in very good company!

3 Replies to “Accidental Recipes and the Best Broccoli Ever!”

  1. This is by far the best way too cook broccoli. Jacob and I split a head for dinner roasted like this, but just with OO,garlic, s&p.

  2. I just stumbled onto your bolg and read the latest entry plus the salmon notes. After that I enjoyed looking at all of your yummy cooking. Usually looking at food doesn’t interest me, but even though I had just eaten well my mouth is watering after looking at your sumptuous fare. I’m happy for you. And next time you get hungry, check out the black walnuts available from: MartinWalnutTreeFarm.com where I work part time !

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