Garlicky Crumb-Coated Broccoli - French Fridays with Dorie

It's always good to have another broccoli recipe, but I'll have to say that this one didn't turn out to be as exceptional as I was hoping. Good, but not great. And, because it requires full-time attention just before serving, it may be difficult to work into a menu.

I started off with some fresh-looking organic broccoli. Sometimes "organic" seems worth the splurge; sometimes not. Here, despite the garlic breadcrumbs, I figured I'd want the best broccoli I could get. In the summer, I'd get it at the Farmers' Market. In April, I'll settle for the organic section at the grocery store.

A beautiful spring day in Minnesota. Even though there are still piles of snow and ice, it's now clear that they're clinging on but doomed. It was a good day to bring out the grill. I stopped at the meat market to get one lovely steak--and told Jim that he'd have to man the grill since I was getting the broccoli on the table. Nice to be able to use up some parsley that's not going to make it much longer and half a lemon that I found in a corner of the crisper drawer.

The smell of melting butter erases the scent of steamed broccoli. I know that broccoli is the healthier choice, but butter smells better.

The smell gets even better when three cloves of chopped garlic are added. I never paid the slightest bit of attention to the green "germ" in the garlic. Now, unfortunately, I know it should be removed. That extra step is kind of a pain, and I'm not completely sure that it makes a difference, but I try to be a good instruction follower. Broccoli is one of Jim's least favorite foods, but he was very taken with the smell of garlicky butter.

The lemon peel and parsley add fresh notes. Unfortunately, the crumbs do not adhere very well to the broccoli, so basically I put the broccoli on a platter and scrape the crumbs on top.

Jim was disappointed in the final dish. I think he'd been hoping for something transformative, and what he got, according to him, was lukewarm broccoli with crumbs on top. (If you make the broccoli a half-hour before serving, as I did, make sure to warm it up). I thought it was considerably better than that, but I didn't think it was the best possible broccoli recipe. The first grilled steak of the season? Now that was good.