Tenderstem broccoli (broccolini) is roasted with crumbled stilton blue cheese for a luxurious and flavorful side dish. This is on the table in 15 minutes… a wonderfully easy way to prepare your Tenderstem broccoli.

Tis the season for side dishes!

This blog is usually very heavy on dinner recipes and I don’t intend to change that,  but you’ll notice this is my second side dish in a row. Me and side dishes are having a moment.

See, I know that as we approach the holiday season, much attention is being turned to roasted dinners.

I am thinking of Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas dinners, neither of which are well designed for vegetarians, but can actually be amazing opportunities to prepare veggie side dishes in new and interesting ways.

So this fall I am getting back to basics and experimenting with some new veggie side dish concepts.

Hello to Roasted Tenderstem Broccoli & Blue Cheese, which takes a mere 15 minutes from start to finish so will add very little to your workload when preparing a feast!

Or just a Monday night dinner. Either way. 15 minutes. You can make this broccoli every night.

What is Tenderstem Broccoli?

Tenderstem broccoli is a form of broccoli with a long, thin stem and more leafy florets. You may know it as a Broccolini, Baby Broccoli, Long Broccoli or Sprouting Broccoli. Tenderstem is the more commonly used term in the UK.

It is, I am told, the lovechild of broccoli and Chinese kale.

It holds up well to roasting. You get a tender stem (see what I did there?) and a little bit of crunch on the floret with an amazing all round flavor.

What is Stilton Cheese?

This is going to get a side eye by my local readers because stilton cheese is so ubiqituous here in Britain, but the internet is a global place, ol’ chaps. Allow me to enlighten the others.

Stilton is an English blue cheese. It is dry, crumbly and very strong and rich tasting. It is simply delicious. Here in the UK it’s an essential part of any cheeseboard and quite popular to serve with port. You can get it in cute jars, which are everywhere at Christmas time.

It’s often paired with broccoli, particularly in Broccoli Stilton Soup.

Fun fact for the ladies: Stilton is a hard cheese, which means that it’s one blue cheese that pregnant women can safely eat. (Not that it did me any good when I was pregnant because I mostly hated food.)

Stilton is a protected name, meaning that only cheese produced in specific counties can even be given the name “stilton”. Which is why for anyone outside the UK, stilton is an imported product and quite expensive.

But you do not need to go and hunt down stilton to make this recipe. Just find the most dry / hard blue cheese in your supermarket and away we go.

Reheating Your Roasted Broccoli

If you end up with leftovers, they can reheat really nicely. I like to put them in a small oven dish, drizzle with wine and some extra stilton, cover and bake for about 15 minutes. The wine steams them and stops them drying out.

Roasted Tenderstem Broccoli with Stilton

Tenderstem broccoli (broccolini) is roasted with crumbled blue cheese for a luxurious and flavorful side dish. This is on the table in 15 minutes… a wonderfully easy way to prepare your Tenderstem broccoli.
4.50 from 12 ratings

Ingredients

  • 220 g (8 oz) Tenderstem broccoli (broccolini)
  • Salt, pepper and chili flakes to taste
  • 40 g (1.5 oz) crumbled Stilton blue cheese, this is an estimate – use as much or as little as you like!

Instructions 

  • Pre-heat the oven to 200C / 390F while preparing your broccoli.
  • Brush or spray a large baking tray with olive oil and arrange your broccoli on top. Brush or spray the top of the broccoli with some more oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and chili flakes. Crumble your stilton over the top.
  • Roast for 10 minutes in the oven until the stilton has melted in and the florets are starting to crisp.
  • Serve.
Serving: 1g, Calories: 78kcal, Carbohydrates: 3.8g, Protein: 3.4g, Fat: 6.1g, Saturated Fat: 2.1g, Cholesterol: 6.3mg, Sodium: 405.5mg, Fiber: 1.4g, Sugar: 1g