I get hung up on certain foods… during the winter, I’ll spend hours upon hours peeling pomegranate and slurping down the seeds. When I was a kid, my mother would buy bushels of corn… and I would spend the afternoon dropping ears into boiling water, and neatly cleaning the cobs of their juicy kernels while I read my novels. I have favorites, and once I start on a favorite, it might be weeks before I move on to something else.

This last month has been a month of charred and buttered broccolini with a little sprinkle of grey salt. I’m sure it’s not a groundbreaking, cutting edge process to cooking broccolini, nor is it the most sophisticated, but it is the perfect way to get some crunchy, crispy greens in your tummy. I’m not sure it really calls for a recipe, but I’ve written up my notes below.

Sautéed Crispy Broccolini with Grey Salt (Kaprise Kitchen’s current favorite)

• A medium sized bunch of broccolini
• 1 tablespoon of good quality butter
• 1 tablespoon of good quality olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of filtered water
• a generous pinch of good grey sea salt – I used a Celtic light grey I found at my local natural foods store

1. Thoroughly wash the broccolini is cool water, removing any damaged or wilted leaves
2. Trim and chop the broccolini in 1 1/2 inch segments, stopping just short of the flowering tops. Divide the flowering tops into smaller bunches. The stem in this picture was a bit damaged, so I shaved the stem and removed the damaged flowered pieces – dividing the larger head into two smaller and easier to crisp segments. 
3. In a large pan, heat two tablespoons of water on medium heat
4. Add chopped broccolini to bubbling water, stir until bright green and tender
5. Raise the heat to high and stir until all of the water has evaporated from the pan.
6. Drizzle in the olive oil and butter. Stir until all of the pieces are coated with butter and oil – I like to set the flowering heads of broccolini on their top to help them crisp
7. Let the broccolini crisp one side, without stirring. I like my broccolini quite crunchy, so I let the pieces crisp for about two to three minutes before tossing the pan. Stir and crisp until the desired level of crisp and char is acheived.
8. Turn the heat off, sprinkle with the desired amount of grey salt
9. Serve hot

Notes:

• I imagine, in addition to a generous sprinkle of salt, that crushed red pepper flakes would be fantastic for a kickier version. I can also see a generous sprinkle of fresh herbs (say… tarragon, oregano, or basil) would be fantastic in this dish as well.
• I’ve done a version with fresh sliced garlic, but toss the sliced garlic in a minute or two before your broccolini is done, or your garlic will be a very unforgivable black charcoal chip.