Roasted broccoli with garlic olive oil

Hi friends!

This recipe is delicious+easy+healthy=winning like a boss.

I have been having a bit of vegetable "writer's block" lately. I go to the farmer's market religiously every week and buy the same vegetables.  I always end up sandbagging and prep them the same way. With broccoli, I would boil it and throw it in my egg scrambles for the week. BORING.

About a week ago I decided to switch it up and roast it rather than boiling it. I never thought broccoli could be so yummy that I couldn't stop eating it!  Rather than boiling out all the flavor, the broccoli gets intensified and crispy around the edges while still maintaining a nice texture. It gets roasted in a (simple to make) garlic olive oil and then tossed with a little bit of fresh basil and almonds after cooking. Delicious.

Make the entire batch of garlic olive oil. You won't use it all for this recipe, but it stores forever in the fridge. Use it for extra flavor in salad dressings and in your cooking.

Note: don't use frozen broccoli here because the extra water won't allow for crisping in the oven

Roasted broccoli with garlic olive oil

For the garlic olive oil:

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves fresh garlic, smashed

For the broccoli:

1 head fresh (not frozen) broccoli, cut into florets

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped into thin strips (julienned)

1/4 cup almonds (use roasted, not raw)

Serves 2-4

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Make the olive oil:

1.) Pour 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil into a medium saucepan over medium low heat.  

2.) Smash 2 cloves of garlic and add to the olive oil. Cook over low heat until the olive oil is fragrant and the garlic is lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Do not allow garlic to burn. Burnt garlic is really bitter.

3.) Once garlic is lightly browned, remove and discard.  Set the olive oil aside.

Make the broccoli:

1.) Chop broccoli into florets and place on baking sheet.

2.) Drizzle each floret with a little bit of garlic olive oil. I used about 3 tablespoons to cover all of the florets. 

3.) Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.  Toss the broccoli around to make sure each side is seasoned and coated with olive oil.

4.)  Roast in the oven for 20 minutes.  Toss the broccoli around occasionally, around every 5 minutes, to ensure that all sides brown evenly.  The broccoli is done when the florets are crispy and lightly browned.

5.) Chop your basil and your almonds and toss in with the cooked broccoli along with 1 more tablespoon of the garlic olive oil.

6.) Place in serving bowl--serve hot

This goes great with a big, thick cut steak and a roasted sweet potato. Go get your fiber intake for the day!