Steak, Mashed Potatoes and Long Cook Brocollini

We grilled a steak. With it we made our favorite mashed potatoes: Garlic Mashed Potato, the  recipe is in TheBalthazar Cookbook by McNally, Nasr, Hanson. This is a fantastic recipe - it is super-rich! We were amazed that it reheats perfectly in a double boiler. The trick on mashed potatoes is to use a Ricer - which is fun. It makes a far smoother mashed potato. Because of the Pandemic, we didn't have any garlic in the house, so we just left it our. The potatoes were still great! You can get the recipe on our blog of: November 12, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe.

We started with home baked Faccacio Bread. We purchased the unbaked dough from Cookbook, you can actually freeze the dough. This barely counts as cooking, to bake the dough, but it sure is good! We made a new recipe for us: Long Cooked Broccoli - it was excellent. The weather was warm, we ate outside and enjoyed the sunset.
We ate the leftover steak, it was wonderful.

Alice Waters’ Long-Cooked Broccoli

1-1/2    pounds broccoli

¼          cup olive oil

6           garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

Pinch of dried chili flakes

A few good pinches of salt

1           cup water

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

2 to 4 tablespoons grated parmesan or pecorino cheese, optional

To prepare the broccoli, cut the florets into small pieces. Trim the ends off the stems. Peel the stems with a paring knife and thinly slice.

In a medium pot with a heavy bottom, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the broccoli, garlic, chili flakes and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes, until the garlic is very fragrant. Add the water and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to maintain a bare simmer, cover the pot, and cook, stirring occasionally until the broccoli is very tender and falling apart, about an hour. You may need to add more water if the broccoli starts to dry out. After an hour or so, stir vigorously with a spoon to create the texture of a coarse purée. Stir in the lemon juice and zest and the cheese if using. Serve as a bed for grilled fish, shellfish or chicken, as a side dish, mixed with brown rice or pasta, or as a topping for crostini.