Cooking is like Riding a Bike

In that I should do both more often and feel an overpowering amount of guilt when I realize I haven’t.

I’ve jumped back into the kitchen though. I’m not sure why this time it was easier to sustain. Maybe it was the week-long Gordon Ramsay binge. Or seeing the word “Obesity” on my medical file. At any rate, I’ve cooked real food from scratch in my kitchen nearly every day for the past three weeks.

Here’s one of my kitchen staples right now.

New and Improved Roasted Broccoli

• Time: 25m
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

This one is a bit of watching Mom and a bit of watching Gordon Ramsay.

Ingredients:

• Broccoli (however much you want to eat later)
• Salt
• Spices (I use Italian Seasoning mainly)
• Olive oil
• Water

1. Preheat your oven to 400°.
2. Cut your broccoli trees into pieces with long stalks.
   
3. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and trust you’ve chosen a pot big enough for all of the broccoli you want to cook and have put in enough water to submerge that broccoli once we put it in. It’s your kitchen. I trust you.
4. Once boiling, put in your broccoli.
   
5. The goal is to half cook your broccoli. I usually leave the broccoli in the water for about 5-7 minutes depending on how much there is and also whether I put the broccoli in before the water was actually boiling. Waiting for water to boil is my least favorite part of cooking.
6. Use a slotted spoon to scoop the half cooked broccoli out of the water and place it in the middle of a roasting sheet. Spread it out as you add more, but keep it all together in the center.
   
7. Sprinkle your spices over the broccoli along with some salt. Not to worry if you get some on the rest of the sheet.
8. Drizzle some olive oil over the pile of spiced broccoli.
   
9. Throw it in the oven. Let it cook for 10-15 minutes depending on how crunchy you want it.
   

Et voila! Delicious roasted broccoli. I love to eat this with a bit of mascarpone, which is how my mom serves hers.

I’ve got a couple other kitchen staples to post, so who knows, maybe I’m back to this blogging thing too.