I love baby broccoli (AKA broccolini) because of its concentrated ‘broccoli flavor’ and because you get to enjoy the crunch of the long stems as well as tender florets. Plus…it’s just pretty on a plate. The best ways to cook broccolini are either a quick saute or to roast it at a high heat; it’s not suppose to get soggy, so that is why these methods work best. For this flavorful side dish I sprinkled a bit of fennel pollen on the broccolini before roasting it with salt, pepper and olive oil; then served the cooked broccolini over wheat berries flavored with lemon, and pearls of creamy mozzarella cheese. Lemon pepper would also be a nice seasoning for the broccolini in this dish, but if you have fennel pollen I recommend that for its bright, fresh springtime flavor.
(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)
Fennel-Dusted Broccolini with Wheat Berries & Mozzarella Pearls
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup wheat berries
- 1 bunch of broccolini, ends trimmed
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel pollen (or lemon pepper)
- 1 lemon
- Fresh mozzarella pearls
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Arrange the broccolini on a greased baking sheet in a single layer; season with a ½ teaspoon of salt and a big grinding of black pepper. Drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil and dust with the fennel pollen. Roast in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the florets are tender and lightly browned.
- In the meantime, place the wheat berries in a small saucepan along with 1 ½ cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low; cook for approximately 15 minutes or until the wheat berries are tender, but still a bit chewy.
- Arrange the wheat berries on a serving plate and top with the cooked broccolini; squeeze ½ lemon over the broccolini. Serve with lemon slices on the plate along with the fresh mozzarella pearls.
Tagged: broccolini, fennel pollen, fresh mozzarella cheese, lemon, mozzarella pearls, roasted vegetables, side dish, vegetarian, vegetarian side dish, wheat berries
Finally got fennel pollen in a Blue Apron recipe, which reminded me of this. Delicious!
Don’t you adore it?! Have a bottle of California fennel pollen I got at our local spice shop and just used it tonight actually on a turkey tenderloin dish. How did you use it?
Sprinkled it on top of a finished dish of fregola sarda, which also had cooked oyster mushrooms, spinach, garlic, lemon, fennel, etc. Yum!