19It’s the dish
our customers
always expect.Grilled Broccoli and Lemon With Chile
and Garlic
Time: 45 minutesSalt
small or medium broccoli heads with
stalks (about ½ pounds/ grams)
tablespoons/ milliliters olive oil
large Fresno chile, thinly sliced at an
angle, seeds and all
garlic cloves, thinly sliced lengthwise
- anchovies packed in oil, drained
large lemon, cut into thin rounds
and seeded, the rest squeezed for
teaspoon juice
½ tablespoons fl at-leaf parsley,
roughly chopped
Flaky sea salt, for serving- Bring a large saucepan of well-salted water
to a boil over medium-high heat. Keep a
large bowl of ice water next to it. Meanwhile,
trim the broccoli so 2 inches/5 centimeters
of stalk remain attached. Cut the broccoli in
half lengthwise, then cut each half lengthwise
again to give you 4 wedges per head.
vegetable’s fl avor and texture. The direct
application of heat to the outside of each
fl oret creates an actual chemical change,
as the sugars and amino acids inside the
vegetable rearrange themselves. As they
do so, the fl avor both concentrates and
gains complexity.
The second and more practical point
about cooking vegetables this way (taking
them to the point where they still have a
bite and retain their shape, as opposed
to boiling or steaming them to the point
of collapse) is that they can be prepared
fi rst thing in the morning and sit around,
happily and without wilting, for the best
part of the day, before adding dressings
and garnishes. Whether being made in
big batches in a restaurant kitchen or
in smaller batches at home, this point
— being able to prepare something in
advance and not have to worry about
when, exactly, it is served — is such a use-
ful one for everyone who wants to cook
and also relax and enjoy the process of
eating when the time comes.
If there is a secret to being a good cook
(and by good, I mean happy, relaxed and
confi dent), then it is perhaps this: creating
a meal around dishes that can be made
in advance, so as to take out any dead-
line strain. And once you remove time as
a stress factor, you are likely to stumble
upon dishes that are, indeed, timeless.Until recently, I haven’t really had an
insight into this question, but listening to
Christopher Kimball speak with J. Kenji
López-Alt on his ‘‘Milk Street Radio’’
podcast about another popular broccoli
classic, beef and broccoli, served in many
Chinese restaurants in America, I realized
something new.
López-Alt pointed out that in that
particular dish, the point isn’t the beefy
fl avor, as you might expect — the beef
is often washed in order to tenderize it
and so loses much of its punch — but
more the balance of meat and vegetables.
I would take this further and say that the
pre- eminence of the broccoli is actual-
ly what this dish is all about. If strong
beefi ness dominated, the broccoli would
lose its, well, broccoliness. To keep its
integrity, broccoli really needs to stay
fi rm and not be overshadowed by any-
thing too rich.
This is why, I now understand, my past
attempts to cook broccoli long and slow
— trying to recreate a caulifl ower-cheese
with a green shade, or a vegetable gra-
tin for spring — have always ended up
as fi ascos. Broccoli, unlike its brassica
cousins caulifl ower, cabbage or turnips,
loses everything and gains nothing when
it is cooked down to fork-submission. The
freshness, the color, the perkiness of its
fl esh are all gone, and all that’s left is a
drab, slightly bitter pulp.
My friend and business partner, Sami
Tamimi, who brought this dish to us, hav-
ing previously cooked it in a restaurant in
Tel Aviv, learned the hard way about some
other undesirable eff ects time has on broc-
coli. Tossing it with lemon slices, which
was part of our original recipe, although
making it taste sharper and look prettier,
causes the fl orets to lose all their color and
go gray as soon as the dish is placed on
display. To prevent this, we removed the
lemon and instead gave some slices on the
side to be added just before serving, which
is what I would recommend doing with
the lemon sauce here as well.
The way the broccoli is cooked —
quickly blanched (to get heat through to
its core), cooled, dried, tossed in olive oil
and seasoning and then put on a hot char-
grill pan to get its neat stripes — does a
couple of useful things.
One is that it makes it look good:
Black stripes on green fl orets look great!
Extending on from this is what those neat
black stripes are actually doing to the
- Blanch the broccoli by adding it to the boiling
water and cooking for 3½ minutes, until
softened. The stalks should still retain a nice
bite. Use a pair of tongs to remove the wedges,
and plunge them straight into the ice water
to stop them from cooking further. Once
completely cool, drain and dry them well, then
place in a large bowl. - Meanwhile, add 6 tablespoons/89 milliliters
of oil, the chilies and garlic to a small frying
pan, and place it over medium heat. Cook for
7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the
garlic is golden and the chilies start to become
transparent. Use a slotted spoon to transfer
the solids to a plate lined with paper towels,
and set aside to cool and crisp further. - Add the anchovies to the pan, and place over
low heat. Cook gently, stirring occasionally,
for 10 minutes, until an anchovy is soft enough to
be easily squashed with the back of a spoon.
Set aside to cool completely. - Place a large, well-greased grill pan over
high heat, and ventilate your kitchen well. (See
tip for outdoor grilling.) Toss the broccoli gently
with 1½ teaspoons olive oil. Once the pan is
very hot, grill the broccoli in 2 batches, turning
so that all the flat sides have nice grill marks,
6-8 minutes per batch. Transfer to a tray to
cool down. Grill the lemon rounds for 1½ minutes
per side, until nicely charred, then transfer to
a chopping board. When they are cool enough
to handle, finely chop the lemon (skin and
all), and transfer to a small bowl along with
the lemon juice, parsley and remaining 1½
teaspoons olive oil. Mix well, and set aside. - Once the broccoli has cooled, top with the
anchovy-oil mixture, and toss gently to
combine. Arrange on a large serving platter,
and top evenly with the charred-lemon
mixture. Last, sprinkle over the fried chile and
garlic and the flaked salt.
Tip: You can grill the broccoli and lemon slices
at the same time on an outdoor charcoal or
gas grill heated to medium-high (450 degrees).
Grill (covered if using a gas grill), turning
occasionally, until charred, about 10 minutes for
the broccoli and about 3 minutes for the lemon.Yield: 4 servings.