Charred Broccolini with Lemon and Chili
Broccolini blistered in a screaming-hot cast iron with garlic, Calabrian chili, and a hit of lemon at the end.
Prep: 5 min · Cook: 10 min · Total: 15 min · Serves: 4 · Difficulty: Easy · Rating: 4.7/5 (391 reviews)
INSPIRED BY
Trattorias across Tuscany serve bitter greens this way: cooked hard over high heat, hit with garlic, chili, and lemon, and left mostly alone. Broccolini takes to the same treatment beautifully and cooks faster than the broccoli rabe you'd find over there.
Story
I started making this on weeknights when I realized my kids would eat broccolini if it had crispy charred bits but turned their noses up at it steamed and limp. Something about the blackened edges reads as snack food to a seven-year-old. I'm not going to argue with results. Last Tuesday I made a whole pound and there was none left, which has never once happened with steamed broccoli. Here's the mistake I made for a long time, and it's a classic one. I'd heat the oil, throw in the garlic, and then add the broccolini. By the time the broccolini charred, the garlic had gone past golden into burnt and bitter, and the whole pan tasted scorched. The fix took me embarrassingly long to figure out. Char the broccolini first in a dry hot pan, no oil. Then, only at the very end, push it aside and add the oil, garlic, and chili for under a minute. The garlic blooms instead of burning. The other thing is drying the broccolini. If it's wet from the bag or from washing, it steams in the pan and never chars. I pat it down with a towel like I mean it. And the pan has to be genuinely hot, just starting to smoke, before anything goes in. My cast iron handles this better than any nonstick, which would never survive that heat. I use Calabrian chili paste because I keep a jar in the fridge and a little goes a long way, but red pepper flakes work fine if that's what's in the cabinet. Same with the lemon; bottled won't do here, you want the fresh squeeze right at the end to brighten the smoke. My husband eats it cold the next day standing at the counter. I've caught him. He pretends it's for the kids' lunches. It is not.
By Casey
Ingredients
- 1 lb broccolini
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp Calabrian chili paste (or 1/2 tsp chili flakes)
- 0.5 tsp kosher salt
- 0.5 lemon, for juice
- 2 tbsp grated Parmesan, optional
Instructions
- Trim the dry ends off the broccolini. Pat it completely dry. Halve any thick stems lengthwise so they cook evenly.
- Heat a cast iron over high until it just starts to smoke. Add the broccolini in a single layer with no oil yet.
- Let it char undisturbed 2 to 3 minutes, then toss and char the other side. The florets should blacken in spots.
- Push the broccolini aside, add the oil, garlic, and chili. Cook 45 seconds until fragrant, then toss to coat.
- Season with salt, kill the heat, and squeeze the lemon over the top.
- Pile onto a plate and finish with Parmesan if using. Serve hot.
Chef Tips
- Charring the broccolini dry first, then adding oil and garlic at the end, keeps the garlic from scorching. Garlic burns in seconds at the heat you need to blister vegetables, and burnt garlic turns the whole pan bitter.
Cook's Notes
- **Chili substitute:** No Calabrian chili paste? Use 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes added with the garlic.
- **Make-ahead:** This is best fresh, but you can trim and dry the broccolini hours ahead and store it wrapped in a towel.
- **Storage:** Leftovers keep 3 days in the fridge; eat cold or re-crisp in a hot pan, not the microwave.
- **Equipment:** A cast iron or carbon steel pan handles the high heat; nonstick can't go hot enough to char.
- **Common mistake:** Adding garlic at the start burns it; char the broccolini dry first, then add oil and garlic at the end.
- **Doneness cue:** Look for blackened spots on the florets while the stems still have a slight snap.
- **Moisture tip:** Pat the broccolini bone-dry so it chars instead of steaming in the pan.