Roasted Broccoli with Garlic Paprika Vinaigrette

Couple of months ago when I took up the theme cooking from Food 52 recipes, I bookmarked quite a few recipes from that site. I baked a few of those for this bake-a-thon. When I saw Rajani’s version of roasted broccoli from Food 52, I made it right away. I like broccoli when cooked properly and liked the roasted version as well. I have made it 2-3 times in the last couple of months.

Brocolli is a tasteless vegetable and not liked by many. I like it either steamed or lightly sauteed and do not like overcooked mushy florets. Roasting it in the oven is a nice way to ensure it is not overcooked. This roasted version can be served as a snack or a side dish with any cuisine. I once served it with rice and once with some grilled meats.

As I mentioned couple of months ago, I am learning to process RAW images and am still struggling. Then, I was using 30 day free trail version of Lightroom 5 and last month I downloaded 30 day trial version of Photoshop CC. This version has both Lightroom 6 and Photoshop. Unfortunately I could not spend much time playing around with Photoshop as I had hoped to but I did pick up a little bit of Lightroom. After trying both products, I am still unsure what I want to use. I am still struggling processing food images but kind of got a hang of processing other images, such as landscape images in Lightroom. I am leaning towards purchasing Lightroom 6 which is around $150, equivalent to 15 months of subscription to Photoshop CC, which includes both Photoshop and Lightroom. Part of me says I should buy Lightroom, learn it and then consider Photoshop. The other part of me says when I can learn both Lightroom and Photoshop simultaneously, why not go for it. I am going on a vacation tomorrow and will decide what course of action to take, after I get back in mid January. Today’s images were processed using Lightroom 6. I still felt my JPEG images were more colorful, yet decided to go with these. The only way I am going to learn and improve is by practice and feed back from you all. Ok, Ok, I will stop my rant for now and get to today’s recipe.

Source: Food 52
Total Time: 25 – 30 minutes
Preparation: 5 – 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 1 – 2

Ingredients:
Roasting

• 1 head Broccoli, cut into small florets (approx. 2 – 2 ½ cups florets )
• ⅙ – ¼ teaspoon Sea Salt
• ¾ – 1 teaspoon Olive Oil for Drizzle
• 1 ½ tablespoon Blanched Almonds

Vinaigrette

• 2 tablespoon Olive Oil
• ½ – 1 Clove Garlic, minced (I used 1 clove as I like garlic, about ¾ teaspoon minced)
• ½ teaspoon Paprika
• 1 – 2 teaspoon Lime Juice or Sherry Vinegar (I used lime juice)
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 425F.
• Wash and cut broccoli into small florets.
• Spread on a lined/unlined baking sheet, drizzle olive oil, sea salt and toss. Spread florets on the sheet and do not overcrowd them.
• Bake in a pre-heated oven for 10 minutes. Turn the broccoli around and bake for another 8 minutes. Toss almonds on the tray and bake for another 2 minutes. The total bake time is 20 minutes. Almonds need not be baked but I felt roasting almonds for few minutes would bring out the flavor.
• While the broccoli is roasting, heat oil in a small skillet or a sauce pan over medium heat.
• Once the oil is hot, add minced garlic, paprika and turn off the heat. Stir the mixture and let stand for at least 10 minutes.
• Take lime juice, pinch of salt in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in garlic paprika infused oil. Be careful not to add garlic and paprika to lime juice mixture. I used a strainer to leave out the garlic. Whisk until lime juice and infused oil are incorporated.
• Once broccoli is roasted, drizzle some vinaigrette on it, toss and serve. Roasted broccoli taste good as it is and I used vinaigrette as dipping sauce.