I was so hopeful.
From the moment I saw this beautiful broccoli at the Simmons Farm table at last Saturday’s farmers’ market, I knew what I wanted to do with it. I had a lump of green garlic and anchovy-laden butter left in the fridge from a previous dinner, and Maria‘s winning food52 broccoli recipe echoing in my brain – I had hoped to do a spin on her dish, tossed with a bit of pasta to give it enough heft for a main course.
I scattered my beautiful florets on a baking sheet, gave them a drizzle of oil and a scattering of salt and pepper, warmed my butter and olive oil with a bit more anchovy and green garlic plus a hit of red chile flakes, I carefully toasted some slivered almonds while my pasta perked away in a pot. And then…
The smoke detector went off. Mike ran upstairs to disengage it while the cats scattered and hid, and I stood at the counter crying over my blackened, bitter broccoli. I lost track of time and forgot to check it at 20 minutes, and in the blink of an eye, dinner was ruined – inedible.
After more cursing and many tears, we ordered pizza. Not my finest hour.
Maria, I promise you I will try your recipe again, and next time I’ll watch the broccoli like a hawk.
Last Night’s Dinner® 
Hm, like Brussel Sprouts, a little dark brown can be tasty in broccoli. But flaming broccoli, perhaps not so much.
Though, as a spoiled Californian, I am kind of down on plain old broccoli, when broccoli rabe is so much more tasty.
I dunno, that pizza looks pretty good…
THOSE are cinders? Oh my friend, I must be much further down on the eating-carcinogenic-things scale than you- they still look good from here. 🙂
Ack, that stinks. It’s such a disappointment to be looking forward to a meal and to have it go south irredeemably. Thank goodness for takeout!
i love dark broccoli and that looks delicious to me (by the way – twice i’ve taken that recipe and tossed it with ravioli…so good). and, you just made me feel so much better that i am not the only person who ends up crying, and usually cursing, after botching something i think i should have not had to think twice about.
oh, bummer — but I know you’ll try it again. broccoli and pasta is a fave at our house (especially with a little sausage thrown in).
Oh, I have so totally done that. It’s horribly disappointing – especially when the broccoli is a star in your entree. I’m always a fan of take-out pizza though (well, any kind of pizza, really), so your back up plan looked pretty good, too. Can’t wait to see the next try on Maria’s dish.
Anchovy Butter !
anchovy butter sounds amazing! i agree with margaret – i would have still eaten that, just based on the photo – haha! but, tears?! c’mon!
Oh, we’ve all been there. And heaven knows at those moments my girls have heard mommy say a few choice words not on their spelling tests!
I saw the follow up post to this and it looks beautiful and delicious. That pizza didn’t look like bad back up. I can tell you there is no place in Brooklyn that delivers a pie that good looking. hard to believe but so very true.