Broccoli with Roasted Peppers, Capers and Olives

I found my way back into the kitchen (much to Bryan's delight - apparently he was tired of frozen meals), and last night I made the following recipe as a side dish to a phyllo strudel with port wine sauce. I know, sounds good right? And it was, mostly, but the recipe needs some work so I'm not quite ready to share it yet.

The side was a hit though and not surprisingly it came from the Greens cookbook (I'm slowly working my way thru remember?)

I, of course, forgot to take pictures until after we'd eaten most of it, but it's pretty simple.

Broccoli with Roasted Peppers, Capers and Olives

INGREDIENTS

1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper
Light olive oil for the peppers
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp capers
12 Nicoise Olive (yeah right, good luck finding those, they didn't even have them at GELSONS!!! - substitute the readily available Kalamata version) pitted
3 scallions, white parts with some greens, finely chopped (I only recently learned, from Alison, that all these years I've been using the wrong part of the scallions - sigh)
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp marjoram, chopped
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
dash of balsalmic vinegar
S & P
1 bunch broccoli (1 1/2 to 2 lbs)

Preheat oven to 400F. Halve peppers and remove seeds and veins. Brush both sides with olive oil and place on baking sheet skin side up. Bake until skins are wrinkled and slightly brown. When they cool, pull off skins and cut into thin strips. Mix peppers with garlic, olive oil, capers, olives (sliced in 1/2), scallions, parsley, marjoram, pepper flakes and balsalmic. Season with salt.

Blanch the broccoli and drain. Combine with the rest of the ingredients and toss together. Taste for salt, add more S & P and Oil and Vinegar if necessary along with a grind of black pepper.

I didn't, but you could add some feta cheese to make it more substantial.

So-Easy Salad

On Thursday I got my last organic shipment from Love Delivery (if you're in LA and want organic produce delivered to you, I highly recommend them), and in it was a pint of cherry tomatoes and a couple heads of broccoli. Wondering what to do with so many cherry tomatoes when my plants are already starting to produce, I turned to Martha Stewart for advice. The following recipe is adapted from one of hers. My love of garbanzo beans stems from my Freshman College roommate who was a strict vegan and taught me the joy of the chick pea (that name always makes me wonder if there's a butch pea out there, maybe we should change the name of the black-eye pea to the butch pea, but I digress...). She would throw them in her everything salad, make hummus from them, you name it, she used it. Unfortunately I didn't pay that much attention back then and so have forgotten many of the uses besides hummus and in green salads. I was delighted to find this recipe if just because it seems so obvious I never thought of it.

I have, of course, changed it a bit from the original, but I think in doing so have made it tastier. So here goes.

BROCCOLI, CHICK PEA and CHERRY TOMATO SALAD

ingredients


1 pound broccoli, cut into small florets (about 4 cups)
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
2 oz feta cheese
1/2 small red onion, diced
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
Salt and Pepper

Steam broccoli until crisp/tender. Now this is important: DO NOT PULL THE BROCCOLI OUT OF THE STEAMER AND PUT IT IN YOUR MOUTH TO TEST ITS CRISP/TENDERNESS!!!! I can say from recent experience that it will burn your tongue, worse than pizza.


In a large bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, mustard and onion. Add the broccoli, chick peas, tomatoes and Feta and stir until mixed together. Add Salt and Pepper to taste. Let cool for 5 minutes. Enjoy!

That's it. And you end up with this delicious, simple summer salad. It's also really good the next day cold.


I'm serious about the tongue thing. Don't put hot broccoli on your tongue to test it. Cool it off first!