Do you guys subscribe to food magazines? Or pick any up from the grocery store check-out? Do people even read things on paper anymore? I somehow found myself with a subscription to Bon Appetit, though I don’t remember signing up for it. I can’t complain — I much prefer getting that in the mail each month as opposed to my light bill or those AOL subscription CDs if this were 1999.
But even though I get Bon Appetit in the mail and usually pick up Saveur and Lucky Peach each month, I have a habit of bookmarking recipes and then forgetting about them. Whoops. So to remedy that problem, I figured I’d share at least one recipe from them each month as a way to actually use them. Hooray!
This is from this month’s Bon Appetit. I love broccoli. I get excited when I see it on menus, which I’m fully aware is a little insane. I like broccoli steamed, roasted, or raw; I like it in soups, salads, or on their own; I even think I’d like broccoli in a house and with a mouse, Sam-I-am. This particular broccoli dish would be great as a side, and it has wonderful crunch from the peanut topping and even some meatiness thanks to the roasted broccoli stems and addition of nutritional yeast.
What is nutritional yeast, you ask?
This is. Apparently.
It’s a “deactivated” yeast, meaning you can’t toss the stuff into a bread mix and hope it’ll do much of anything. It looks like a fine yellow powder, and it smells (and tastes) a bit like stale Goldfish crackers, which sounds strange, but actually does add a nice dimension of savoriness to meatless dishes. I’m not sure what makes it nutritional, though — maybe they crush up a few Flintstones vitamins into each bottle?
Make this. Eat it. Make your mouth happy.
Roasted and Charred Broccoli with Peanuts
From Bon Appetit, January 2015
Yield: serves 4 as a side
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
2 medium heads of broccoli (or about 1½ lbs), ends trimmed and stems peeled
glug of olive oil
2 tbs rice vinegar (I used Japanese mirin)
¼ cup unsalted roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
½ tsp sugar
2 tbs nutritional yeast
4 green onions, only the green parts thiny sliced
Kosher salt and black pepper for seasoning
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Halve your broccoli and then begin cutting it into ¼” diagonal slices, like you would if you were making a really thin cauliflower steaks. You’ll end up with some pieces that are just loose florets and some pieces that are just stems, and that’s fine!
Toss all the stems into a bowl and drizzle with a healthy amount of olive oil. Season it with salt and pepper and roast it on a rimmed baking sheet for 15-20 minutes, or until the edges each browned.
In the meantime, gather up your leftover loose florets and roughly chop them up into smaller pieces. Heat a dry medium skillet (BA recommends cast iron, which I used, but I think any relatively non-stick skillet will work) over medium-high, and toss your florets in. Season with salt and pepper and stir it constantly until the florets are softened, bright green, and a bit charred, about 5 minutes.
Reduce the heat to low and add in the peanuts and sugar. Stir that around until the peanuts turn golden brown, then take it off the heat and stir in the nutritional yeast. Taste it and add in some more seasoning if you think it needs it.
When the stemmed broccoli is done, toss it with the rice vinegar while it’s still hot. Add about half of the peanut-florets mixture and toss. Serve it warm garnished with the remaining peanut-floret mixture and sliced green onions.
2 Comments
My husband is broccoli’s #1 fan. This looks amazing, and I need to make it this week! Thanks for sharing. :)
January 26, 2015 at 6:56 amYou’re welcome! I hope he likes it! Broccoli is SUPER underrated. ;)
January 30, 2015 at 4:26 pm