I'm choppin' Broccoli

Yup, still working on clearing out the kitchen pantry, cupboards, fridge, etc. I had a couple of heads of broccoli staring at me from the crisper...meant, with best intentions, to be used for BSI a week or so back. Many people mentioned that when they do a cleaning out of their kitchen (like I'm doing now), they often end up eating things that don't necessarily go together. Same here...I just got lucky with the curry. I mean yes, the things actually in this broccoli dish worked...and I didn't end up serving it with anchovies and phyllo (still looking for a use for those)...but it did wind up actually being my whole meal. Kiddos ate it with chicken nuggets and french fries...so, not too shabby I suppose. I did, however find a use for that almost empty bag of slivered almonds in the freezer and the just threatening to shrivel lone orange in the crisper, looking all lonely next to the heads of broccoli. Fortunately I still have butter and plenty of sea salt to bring everything together into a nice side (or main) dish.Broccoli with Orange, Almonds and Brown Butter
by girlichef


2 small heads broccoli, cut into florets (~5 c.)
1/4 c. butter
1/3 c. sliced almonds
1/2 of an orange, zest & juice separate
sea salt


I started with the broccoli. The quickest and easiest way to do it is to pop it into a microwave-safe bowl and add a little (couple Tbs or so) of water, cover it and microwave for a few minutes, or until just al dente. Carefully drain the little bit of water off and set aside for a moment.

Next, place the butter in a small saute pan over low heat. Once it has melted, swirl the pan constantly and watch for the milk solids to start to turn brown and smell for that nutty, buttery scent. Once it has started to look & smell this way, remove pan from the heat immediately. If it goes farther, it'll just burn and be bitter. Ick.

Drop in almonds and orange zest and swirl around. Pour over reserved broccoli.

Squeeze the orange half over the whole thing and toss well. Add sea salt to taste.

Serve as a side dish or just eat it alone.
Now....any suggestions as to what to do with my anchovies and phyllo dough? There's still a couple of days to enter to win some free cookie dough...

*Update 12/26/10: I'm sharing this w/ the 12 Days of Bloggie-mas!