Broccoli Pizza

This is my favorite approach to broccoli. It's not a recipe so much as a method and it completely depends on the quantity of broccoli you have on hand. Tonight we had one medium head and one slightly smaller head from our winter CSA share.

Please ignore the stains on my countertop. Someday I will go back and photoshop everything pristine, but today is not that day. Put a large pot of water on to boil and start prepping you broccoli. Chop the florets into big chunks. Peel the stems and and slice into sticks. The florets are going to cook faster than the tougher stems, so proportion accordingly like so:

Salt your boiling water and toss the broccoli in. Set a lid on top of your pot and bring the heat up to it gets back to a boil as soon as possible. You want to cook the broccoli until it's tender, but still bright green. I would love to give you a good time for this, but it completely depends on how much veg you are cooking. Just keep an eye on things and periodically stab the broccoli with a fork. When the fork doesn't meet much resistant, you are set.

Drain the broccoli and rinse with cool water to bring down the temperature. You could also use a ice bath, but we just want things cool enough so you can easily handle it. While cooling, put a large skillet on medium heat with a tablespoon or two of olive oil (again, depends on how much veg you are working with). Chop all of the cooled broccoli into small pieces - approximately a 1/4 in dice if you're into measuring such things but there is no need for uniformity.

Once your is olive oil is heated in the skillet, add some minced garlic to the olive oil. For this evenings portion I used four cloves, but we are big garlic fans. Cook the garlic briefly, then add the chopped broccoli and a generous helping of red pepper flakes. Cook until the flavors are melded and the broccoli is heated through, correcting the seasoning with salt as needed.

As is, this would be a great dish. It could be a side to something splendid, or it could top rice or pasta. But our favorite application is a pizza topping. For the pizza, we usually use a purchased whole wheat dough because we are lazy, but homemade would be fantastic, and I do have a great homemade recipe if you have the time.

Roll out your dough. Sprinkle with olive oil (or not), top with the broccoli and some cheese (we're partial to mozzarella and lots of it, with a little parmesan for added flavor), add a few grinds of black pepper and bake in a 450 degree oven until browned and bubbly. That's it.

Oh, and enjoy!