Pan-fried Tenderstem Broccoli

Affectionately referred to as “craccli” due to just how darn tasty this is!

You can really taste the quality of the ingredients here, so make sure your balsamic is up to snuff.

Quick Reference

  • About 8 minutes in the pan
  • Add soy sauce and balsamic vinegar half way through

Ingredients

  • Allow about 70-100g per person; I normally use half a 350g bag to share between two
  • Generous pinch of sea salt flakes
  • Freshly cracked or ground pepper
  • Splash of soy sauce - around a tablespoon
  • Splash of nice, thick balsamic vinegar - ideally sweet rather than acidic
  • 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • Splash of sesame oil

Method

  1. Wash and tail the broccoli stems. Depending on the size of your pan and your serving plans you may opt to cut the stems in half to make them more manageable. They will be very tasty either way!
  2. Heat the oil in a pan.
  3. Add the broccoli, making sure to turn the heads to ensure they get a good coating of oil, and sprinkle over the salt.
  4. Sizzle the broccoli for about 4 mins over a medium heat, checking and moving occasionally. They should just start to brown on the underside
  5. As the broccoli begins to brown, add a generous amount of pepper and the soy sauce. You want to add enough soy that it will get into the broccoli heads but not so much that it becomes the prevailing flavour.
  6. For the next couple of minutes make sure that the broccoli have all turned, giving them a chance to brown on all sides
  7. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer to avoid burning the soy, add the balsamic vinegar and sesame oil and stir through.
  8. Keep the broccoli occasionally moving as you finish up the main dish - all that remains here is getting the stems to the right level of crunch for your taste, probably another couple of minutes to take the total cooking time to around 8-10 mins.

Blurb

This is one I came up with myself in a moment of inspiration whilst cooking for a friend. Possibly drawing on an idea I’d seen for pan-fried brussels sprouts which involved soy sauce, I improvised with a nice bottle of Modena balsamic vinegar picked up at a London food festival and created my favourite way to eat broccoli!

For a little variation, consider adding in garlic too, though you’ll probably want to add them around half-way to avoid burning it.

I’ve had this alongside pasta dishes, to accompany stir-fries, and as a side with roasts. Sharp, salty and sweet with both a crunch from the stem and a tasty chew from the head, when done right it’s an excellent side dish - but do be careful about over-doing it with the salt and soy, as that has a tendency to overwhelm the other flavours.