I’ve professed my love for broccoli on here before. I am always finding good broccoli recipes, so more people can fall in love with this wonderful vegetable that sometimes get a bad rep.

Most recipes, like a broccoli slaw, highlight broccoli’s bright green color and crunchy texture. But this one is perfect for those of you who like your vegetables on the tender side.

Contrary to popular belief, when broccoli is cooked right, it can be anything but bitter and mushy. In this recipe, broccoli is first boiled in water to preserve its bright color and eliminate that raw woodsy taste of uncooked vegetables. It is then braised with just a little bit of liquid in a skillet until the vegetable is soft and sweet and so delicious.

This dish is studded with lots of flavorful ingredients–lemon zest, onion, garlic and olives. Here I used kalamata olives, which is a meaty black olive common in Greek cooking. The original recipe used chopped Gaeta olives, which is a small black Italian variety. You can use any dark olives you like.

You can serve this as a side dish, toss it with some pasta with Parmesan cheese, or spoon it over cooked rice or quinoa. The original recipe also suggested topping garlic-rubbing bread slices with this dish. I just ate it straight from the skillet for lunch.

Braised Broccoli with Olives

Adapted from Local Flavors by Deborah Madison

• Broccoli crowns, 5 small heads, about 1 1/2 pounds, cut into bite-size florets
• Olive oil, 1/4 cup
• Dried marjoram, 1 tablespoon
• Onion, 1 medium, chopped
• Garlic, 3 large cloves, minced
• Kalamata olives, 15, finely chopped, about 1/2 cup
• Lemon zest, grated from half of a lemon
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste

Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil; add salt, then the broccoli. Cook for 5 minutes, even if the water barely  returns to the boil. Then scoop florets into a colander to drain, reserving a cup of the boiling water.

Warm the olive oil in a wide skillet, then add the onion, cook for 5 minutes. Add marjoram and garlic, cook until the onion is translucent, about 3 more minutes. Stir in the olive. Add the broccoli and stir to coat well. Add the reserved broccoli water and simmer over low heat until the broccoli is very tender, about 10 minutes. Taste for salt and pepper and season. Add lemon zest.

Serves 4.