Gingered Broccoli

I was pretty excited when I found this recipe in the Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites cookbook. Ginger, broccoli, soy sauce, what's not too like?

Well, first off, the recipe doesn't point out you should reduce the heat after putting in the broccoli, which I didn't think about. So, that didn't work so well. The sauce didn't burn, but pretty much solidified. I mixed in some more soy sauce, housin sauce and vinegar to thin it out and ended up with over steamed broccoli with vinegar. Blech.

I tried again, taking care to reduce the heat, which seemed to work fine for the doneness of the veg, but the flavor still wasn't very impressive. Kind of like a over-vinegared American barbeque sauce on broccoli.

On the plus side, this was my first use of my new Microplane grater which I got for renewing my Cook's Illustrated subscription. That thing is sweet. Especially for ginger. Unlike a regular grater, you don't get those annoying strings from the root. Even without the handle or the end-tabs (Cook's Illustrated cheaped out on that), this is highly recommended. And seeing all the others on their site just adds things to my Birthday and Christmas wish list.