Dinner Tonight: Broccoli Sautéed with Crisp Garlic
Gordon Ramsay’s In the Heat of the Kitchen has been fun to look through, but I haven’t really been able to put it to much use. Most of the recipes seem rather complex for a hectic weekday night. So I was a little surprised to find this quick little broccoli recipe stuck between “Caramelized baby onions with beet jus” and “corn fritters with lime crème fraîche." With only eight ingredients, seven of which I had already, this proved to be a perfectly practical side.
While the crisp garlic is fun and those onions sure do add a lot of sweetness, what really separates this dish from a standard accompaniment is the oyster sauce. It somehow binds all the ingredients and transforms this into an interesting side dish worth paying attention to. It’s such a simple addition, too. This, of course, all depends on whether you have oyster sauce just hanging around the fridge ready to go in to random dishes. I do. Its cost is so small, and it keeps surprising me with dishes like this one.
Broccoli Sautéed with Crisp Garlic
- serves 4 -
Ingredients
1 head broccoli, thick stems removed, and cut into florets
2 tablespoons sunflower or olive oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
Salt and pepper
Procedure
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Also, get a large bowl of ice water ready. When the water is boiling, dump the broccoli in and blanch for 2 minutes. Drain the broccoli and transfer to the ice water. When cooled, dry the broccoli in a towel.
2. Pour the oil into a large pan over medium heat. Add the garlic slivers and saute until golden brown. Remove the garlic with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel.
3. Toss the onions into the pan and cook for 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the broccoli and cook until hot, about 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat, pour in the oyster sauce, and sprinkle the garlic slivers atop. Season with salt and serve.
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8 Comments:
damn. nice picture, Nick. om nom nom.
Raphael at 8:03PM on 04/30/08
i grew up eating Chinese-style broccoli with oyster sauce at home.. so i was looking at ways to recreate broccoli - without oyster sauce - and my heart dropped when i read that the *star* was oyster sauce.
:(
sybones at 10:47AM on 05/01/08
that picture is so freakin amazing. omg.. drool
chlamers at 11:05AM on 05/01/08
I don't have oyster sauce....would fish sauce work? Forgive me if this is a stupid question!
amber at 12:32PM on 05/01/08
@amber - Fish sauce wouldn't have the right consistency. You would have something more soupy, less clingy.
The "vegetarian" tag is a bit misleading...real oyster sauce is decidedly NOT vegetarian. Of course, there are versions of "oyster sauce" that are made with mushrooms and thus vegetarian, so I guess any vegetarians would know to substitute that. Still....
onalark at 7:20PM on 05/01/08
You can definitely make a similar recipe with fish sauce. My family loves
this one.
KashaKnish at 10:26AM on 05/03/08
I have oyster sauce in my refrigerator, and will make this. I'm always looking for recipes for broccoli. The image is beautiful! Thanks for the recipe!
SusanBillieTaylor at 12:59PM on 05/08/08
Lovely broccoli, but what's the toasted sesame oil for?
siobhan27 at 2:08PM on 05/15/08