When I was younger, my Dad always tried to get me to eat brussel sprouts. But I found them highly unappealing. For one, they smelled like feet and he cooked them by boiling them in the microwave then served them with a pat of butter on top and a dash of salt and pepper.
Can you say bland? He had great intentions, trying to get me to eat vegetables but NO vegetable should be boiled, unless it’s potatoes — and your intent to is to mash them with milk, butter, and salt.
I never came around to liking brussel sprouts until the mid-20’s when the world discovered brussel sprouts should be roasted not boiled. It was eye opening for me, I didn’t hate brussel sprouts after all, I simply hadn’t had them prepared properly.
So now, when I hear that people don’t like a certain vegetable, I can’t help but think it’s because they haven’t had it prepared properly. All of these scary, and popularly disliked vegetables, like brussel spourts, mushrooms, broccoli and cauliflower deserve their time in the spotlight, they just need a few friends involved to make them shine.
My intention with Sriracha Honey Broccoli was to convince <3M that he really did like broccoli. Ever since I have known him he has picked broccoli out of everything. It was awesome for me, since I love broccoli, regardless of its form, but it was something I never cooked at home because he ‘hated’ it.
Recently, we’ve had an abundance of broccoli in our CSA delivery, and as much as I like broccoli, I couldn’t keep up with eating 3 heads of it myself each week. Knowing <3M’s taste preferences for spicy food, I set out to create a broccoli recipe that he’d like and convince him of his own love for the cruciferous vegetable.
For this recipe, I use sriracha as my base, add in a bit of salty soy sauce, some honey for sweetness and then roasted everything to give the broccoli a soft but crunchy texture.
It’s absolutely delicious there’s a little bit of salt, sweet, and spice, the perfect combination of flavors without being too spicy. It really is a small amount of heat from the sriracha and the quantity you use can even be decreased if you have a low tolerance for spice. The dish comes together in minutes so it’s great for a week night side. We served this with the Miso Chicken Thighs and it was a perfect, Asian-flavored meal.
Do you have any vegetables you used to hate but now love?
How do you prepare them now?
- 3 heads of broccoli, washed & cut into small florets
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 teaspoons sriracha
- 1½ teaspoons lime juice
- 1 clove garlic, pressed
- Preheat the oven to 450*
- Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil and spray it lightly with olive oil. Set aside.
- Place you prepped broccoli in a medium size bowl and set aside.
- In a small bowl whisk together the coconut oil, soy sauce, honey, sriracha, lime juice, and garlic.
- Pour the sauce over the broccoli and toss to coat evenly.
- Spread the prepared broccoli on the roasting pan in a single, even layer.
- Roast at 450* for 25-30 minutes, tossing the broccoli every 10 minutes so it cooks evenly.
- Remove from oven and serve immediately.
