Jun 16, 2016

Roasted Broccoli with Garlic Butter and Lemon

Garlicky, buttery, lemony and so tasty are these roasted broccoli florets! Quick and easy to make, low-carb and naturally gluten-free!

Back when we were still living in Michigan, a good friend of ours invited us for dinner at their place. I have always enjoyed the food she served as they were simple, totally uncomplicated, yet very tasty. She had to adjust her cooking style and choice of food early on because her kids suffer some allergies and couldn't tolerate certain foods. Since she had to often use very basic ingredients - just pure whole foods - I truly loved the simplicity of her cooking and how she made them quite tasty, too. I especially loved the way she cooked her vegetables.

It was through her that I learned to make roasted Broccoli in the oven (not something we ever did in the Philippines given that we didn't have any oven when I was growing up and that we hardly ate Broccoli, too). I remember asking her how she made the Broccoli so deliciously sweet. She said there was no sugar in it but the roasting in the oven with the olive oil and plain salt and pepper just brought out the yummy taste of the vegetables. I was totally happy to learn this as with this new information I didn't have to be limited to vegetables only being used as part of the viand. In fact, they can indeed be the star of the show - without sacrificing their pure goodness with too many other ingredients added to them.

That my kids just love to eat these roasted Broccoli is a major plus to making this. I just tweaked the recipe a little by adding some butter to the mix (the kids prefer that buttery taste) but feel free to just use olive oil if you like. I have also added crushed garlic to the mix and allow it to infuse the butter and oil with some flavor as they all heat up in the oven. This way the butter and oil is already flavored with garlic when you toss it with the broccoli thus adding more taste to it. Lemon juice is added to give it that fresh tang, too and overall it's still a very simple recipe that's quick to make and with very few ingredients, you can't go wrong with this! Enjoy!

Roasted Broccoli with Garlic Butter and Lemon

By: Manila Spoon
June 16, 2016

Garlicky, buttery, lemony and so tasty are these roasted broccoli florets! Quick and easy to make, low-carb and naturally gluten-free!

Ingredients

2-3 large Broccoli heads
4 Tablespoons Butter (use grass-fed or clarified Butter for Paleo options)
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
4-5 Garlic cloves, crushed
1 Lemon
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400F. Place the butter, oil and garlic cloves in a shallow baking pan and transfer to the oven as it preheats.
Cut the broccoli into florets. Take the pan out of the oven and gently toss with the melted butter and oil. Squeeze some lemon juice all over and season with salt and pepper to taste. Roast in the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until crisp to your liking.
Serve immediately and, if desired, sprinkle all over with freshly grated Parmesan cheese to totally bring it over the top! Enjoy!