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Sunday, June 5, 2011

Broccoli "Rice" Side Dish

Broccoli has its detractors, but we've always liked this year-round vegetable. The worst we could say — and we often did — was that it is BOH-ring.

Broccoli crowns were ridiculously cheap the other day at our local market, so we loaded up with a couple, and then checked our ever-growing shelf of cookbooks for a different way to love its green goodness. We ran across something called Broccoli "Rice," which wasn't rice at all.

The broccoli is minced into small pieces the size of a grain of rice, and the preparation gives broccoli a very fresh taste and creative presentation. It makes this winter vegetable into a summer surprise. And who would have ever thought of putting mint in a broccoli side dish? Brilliant.

The recipe is the brainchild of Eric Gower, author of "The Breakaway Cook." Serve this side next to any meat or protein, or under it as we did last night, as shown in the photo above.

Broccoli "Rice"

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, minced
Kosher salt and fresh-ground black pepper
1 medium head of broccoli, minced to rice size

Dressing
2 Tablespoons Greek or plain yogurt
1 Tablespoon citrus juice (we used lime)
2 Tablespoons minced fresh mint

Melt the butter and olive oil in a large pan or wok over medium heat.
Add the onion and salt and pepper liberally.
Cook, stirring once in a while, until softened but not browned.
Add the broccoli and continue to cook for about 10 minutes, until the vegetable is cooked through.
While it's cooking, blend the dressing ingredients, and add to the broccoli when it is done. Cook for another couple of minutes to blend flavors. Test for seasoning.

Serve under meat, fish or tofu and with a fresh, crisp white such as sauvignon blanc, viognier, or light chardonnay.

We served it with scallion-coated tofu and grilled spring onions from the CSA box.

3 comments:

  1. Well, the way YOU make it is not boring!

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  2. The cookbook author, Eric Gower, says he's never served it without someone asking for seconds. It's amazing how fresh it tastes compared to steamed broccoli, and the mint and yogurt really give it pep.

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  3. This inspired me last week - I had some mixed rice and chicken breasts, and my hubby wanted something in a bowl. So ... I chopped up some broccoli heads and stems to close to rice size, diced some onions and mushrooms, sauteed everything together, and let it steam for a bit in some chicken broth. Then I mixed in the rice, diced the chicken breasts into small cubes (about 3/4 inch - wasn't measuring), and mixed everything together, spicing it liberally with garlic and black pepper. Hubby wanted Parmesan cheese on his. Mine, I just took straight. way yum!

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