
The other night, after dinner, I skipped bowling because my pants were too tight. Total. Torture. It felt like my jeans were violating my human rights.
Yes, it's that time. The days between Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas, when our jiggly bits become jiggly chunks. Just look at all these cookies. They are everywhere.
Time to go green.
I'm not talking about the Grinch that stole your cookies. I'm talking about some seriously delicious broccoli that you will want to eat. (You can eat cookies after you finish your broccoli.)
I've always liked broccoli. This recipe, however, elevated its status from reliable vegetable buddy to BVF. The original recipe is from Ina Garten's Back to Basics, but I've dumbed it down a bit and left out a few ingredients, mostly because pine nuts have a lot of fat.
Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees. Cut 3 to 4 pounds of broccoli into florets. Wash and pat dry. Toss in olive oil until lightly coated, kosher salt (about one teaspoon, or more) and red pepper flakes (1 teaspoon or to taste). Add thinly sliced garlic (about 3 to 4 cloves). Lay out the broccoli on a parchment paper lined cooking sheet. Make sure not to crowd the pan. Roast for about 20 minutes, until the edges are brown and crispy (flavor!). If it needs it, you can shake the pan around and put it back in the oven for 5 to 8 minutes. Then finish it off with parmesan reggiano, lemon juice, lemon zest, and, if you have it on hand, chopped basil.
Seriously delicious.
As for the jiggly bits....remember, roasting is your friend in the last days of 2010.
Hopefully, after eating this for a few nights, I'll be able to get back to lobbing the ball down the lane.