Sauteed Broccolini

Its been a busy month for the Barefoot Bloggers, with four recipes to complete in March instead of the usual three. Bless those doing the choosing for the recipes, because it has been a lovely and varied selection. We started this month with Chicken Piccata, today we have both a Chocolate Brownie Pudding and sauteed Broccolini, and then next week we will round out the month with Tomato and Goats Cheese Tarts. And we definitely needed the Broccolini to increase our vitamin and anti oxidant levels around here.

I enjoyed this recipe although it was not universally acclaimed in this house. My favourite part of the recipe was the two stage cooking process, which I think makes this a good choice for entertaining - blanch your greens ahead of time and then reheat in the lemon garlic butter. I think this would work just as well for beans or snow peas as for broccolini. Sadly husband and children are not very fond of broccolini, and would prefer standard issue broccoli most days of the week. I will probably use the recipe again but for different greens. Thanks to Mary of Meet Me In the Kitchen for her choice - I'm sure one day I will convince the family about broccolini (or not).

Sauteed Broccolini
from Ina Garten

1 bunch broccolini
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 lemon, zested
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Blanch the broccolini in a large pot of boiling salted water for 2 minutes. Drain immediately and immerse in a bowl of ice water.

Melt the butter in a large saute pan. Add the lemon zest and garlic and stir. Drain the broccolini and add it to the garlic mixture and heat for 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt and the pepper, and toss well before serving.