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Prep time
20 minutes
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Cook time
15 minutes
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Serves
4
Author Notes
If you ever need help eating your greens, try tossing them in this delicious combination of fish sauce and garlic. You’ll make more sauce than you’ll need for this recipe, but it’s so delicious that we’re sure you’ll find other ways to use it. We use broccolini here, but it also goes very well with spinach, collards, cabbage, or bok choy. Store the extra sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. It’ll be ready to use, right out of the fridge or rewarmed, on your next plate of leafy greens. —Red Boat Fish Sauce
Test Kitchen Notes
Excerpted with permission from The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cookbook: Beloved Recipes from the Family Behind the Purest Fish Sauce. © 2021 by Cuong Pham, with Tien Nguyen and Diep Tran. Photography © 2021 by Oriana Koren. Reproduced by permission of Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. —The Editors
Ingredients
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1/4 cup
(about 6 cloves) minced garlic
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1/4 cup
grapeseed, canola, vegetable, or other neutral oil
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1 1/2 tablespoons
Red Boat Fish Sauce
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2 teaspoons
sesame oil
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1 tablespoon
kosher salt
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1 pound
broccolini, cut into 2-inch pieces
Directions
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Make the garlic sauce:
In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the garlic and oil. Cook until the garlic starts to turn a pale golden color, stirring frequently to ensure the garlic toasts evenly, 7 to 10 minutes.
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Transfer the garlic and its oil to a jar or bowl. Stir in the fish sauce and sesame oil, then set aside while you blanch the broccolini.
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Blanch the broccolini:
In a large pot over high heat, bring 4 quarts of water and the salt to a boil. While the water heats, fill a bowl with ice water and place next to your stove.
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Working in batches, add a third of the broccolini to the boiling water. Blanch until just cooked through, about 60 seconds. To see if it’s cooked enough, carefully bite into a stem. If the center of the stem is still raw, cook for another 30 to 60 seconds. Drain the broccolini and immediately place in the bowl of ice water to arrest the cooking.
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Let the water come to a boil again before repeating with the remaining broccolini.
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Once all the broccolini is blanched, set aside in a colander to drain for 10 to 15 minutes, then dry with paper towels, if necessary. You want the broccolini to be as dry as possible so the dressing will adhere.
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Dress and serve the broccolini:
When you’re ready to serve, stir the dressing well to evenly redistribute the ingredients. Drizzle 1 to 2 teaspoons of the garlic sauce over the broccolini. Toss to coat, then taste and add more sauce to your liking. Serve.
If you use a more delicate green like bok choy or cabbage, blanch it for 30 to 60 seconds, or just until tender.
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