Today’s recipe is a delicious broccoli cream because after the holidays and big meals it’s good to regain the right balance by eating lots of vegetables. So I thought of starting the first lunch after New Year’s with a delicious broccoli cream, super flavorful, cooked in a pan, with very little water, without boiling them first. Of course, if you prefer, you can simply boil them and blend them with some of their cooking water. I preferred to cook them in a pan with garlic and chili, so the taste is more intense and pleasant. Many use cream and cheese to prepare vegetable creams and soups, but in my case, I have prepared a very light version, without any of these ingredients, a vegan broccoli cream, delicious, and with a truly delightful taste. Broccoli cream can be eaten on its own, with croutons, with some white rice, or even used to dress pasta. Let’s see how to prepare it.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter
Broccoli Cream Ingredients
- 1.1 lbs broccoli
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 chili peppers
- to taste olive oil
- chili powder
- to taste water
Tools to prepare broccoli cream
- 1 Knife
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Colander
- 1 Pot
- 1 Immersion blender
Steps to prepare broccoli cream
Clean the broccoli, cut them into florets, also take the tender part of the stem, peel it, and cut finely. Wash the broccoli well under running water.
In a pan, put a drizzle of oil with garlic and chili, heat slightly and add the broccoli, add a pinch of salt, and a glass of water, cover and cook over low medium heat.
Cook the broccoli for about 10-15 minutes until they are tender, it’s necessary that they are not too dry, so if needed, add a little more water.
At this point, transfer them into a container for immersion blender, and blend them, with a bit of the cooking water, blending also garlic and chili. If necessary, add a little more water, even vegetable broth, or a bit of raw olive oil. If you want to enrich the broccoli cream, you can add grated cheese, cream, pancetta, or bacon browned, I kept it light and added just a bit of chili powder at the end, if you don’t like spicy, sweet is also fine.
Great to eat with croutons, or even on a slice of bread with 2 anchovies for a tasty appetizer.
The broccoli cream can be frozen or kept in the fridge for a couple of days, great also as a pasta sauce, to be used as a base and enriched with other ingredients each time to make each dish always new and original while using the same base.
