Broccoli with Roasted Garlic Butter

Anyone who says they don't like vegetables probably isn't cooking them right. I wouldn't like vegetables either if all I was doing was steaming them and then slapping some butter on when they're done. Just like any other part of your meal, you've got to add flavor. There are two ways to add flavor to your vegetables:

1. Cooking method - grilled, braised, roasted, sauteed, etc.
2. Flavorings - compound butter, various herbs and spices, cheese sauce, teriyaki sauce, etc.

This doesn't mean that your vegetable dish has to be complicated or time consuming. Use the rest of your meal to be your guide on how to cook the vegetable. Are you grilling burgers or chicken? Throw your veggies on the grill too. Are you baking chicken? Throw your veggies on a baking sheet and roast them along side the chicken. Are you pan grilling some steaks? Throw your veggies into the same pan after you've removed the steaks and saute them, flavoring the veggies with all the yummy browned bits at the bottom of the pan.

Tonight, I decided to make it really simple. I steamed some broccoli. But I didn't just top it with plain old butter; I used roasted garlic butter to add more depth of flavor. I happened to already have the garlic butter hanging around - which is always a good idea to have some compound butter in your freezer - but I'll tell you how to make it and you can freeze the left-overs!

Broccoli with Roasted Garlic Butter
Makes: 4 servings

4 large heads of broccoli
1 whole head of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

• First, make the roasted garlic. Cut just the very top off the head of garlic exposing some of the cloves, place the garlic on a piece of tin foil, then drizzle the olive oil over the top. Close up the tin foil.
• Bake at 400° F for 30 - 40 minutes until the garlic is nice and deep golden brown but not burned. Tip: you can do this in a toaster oven to conserve energy since we're only making one.
• Remove the garlic from the oven and allow to cool.
• Once cool, squeeze the head of garlic so that the cloves come out of the skin (almost like a tube of toothpaste). Place the garlic into a food processor.
• Puree the garlic until smooth.
• Add the butter to the garlic and continue to puree until completely combined. Note: if you're using a butter substitute like Smart Balance or I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, do not soften it, just place it right into the food processor cold.
• Now steam the broccoli. Clean the broccoli and cut it into individual florets.
• Place the broccoli into a steamer basket over boiling water and steam for about 2 - 3 minutes until cooked al dente. If you don't have a steamer basket, you can steam this in the microwave by placing the broccoli in a microwave safe bowl with 2 tbsp of water at the bottom. Cover the bowl with microwave safe plastic wrap and cook on high for about 2 - 3 minutes. Or you could even get the kind that comes in a steamer bag!
• Toss the broccoli with about 1 tbsp of the roasted garlic butter and serve.
• If you want to go really crazy you could even sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese. But I was pretty much at my calorie limit for the day so I had to be a good doobie.

That wasn't so hard was it? Now eat your damn veggies!!!