Skip to main content

Broccolini With Sesame Sauce and Lemon

5.0

(3)

Cooked broccolini topped with sesame sauce toasted sesame seeds and lemon slices on a dark blue serving plate.
Photo by Marcus Nilsson, Prop Styling by Kalen Kaminski, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich

This steamed broccolini dressed with a salty-sweet sesame sauce was inspired by gomae, a Japanese spinach dish. It’s a bright and palate-cleansing; a perfect side for heavy winter dinners. You want the water to be heavily salted to properly season the broccolini. Two tablespoons per quart of water is a good rule of thumb.  

  

Like this Bon Appétit recipe? There are plenty more where this came from. Subscribe to the magazine here!

Recipe information

  • Yield

    8 servings

Ingredients

6 bunches broccolini (about 3 lb. total), trimmed, halved lengthwise
Kosher salt
¼ cup tahini
2 Tbsp. white miso
1 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp. mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
1 Tbsp. unseasoned rice vinegar
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
4 Tbsp. vegetable or other neutral oil, divided
2 tsp. honey, divided
½ lemon, seeds removed
Toasted sesame seeds (for serving)

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Cook broccolini in a large pot of boiling salted water until bright green and crisp-tender, 5–7 minutes. Drain and transfer to paper towels.

    Step 2

    Meanwhile, mix tahini, miso, soy sauce, mirin, vinegar, sesame oil, 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil, 1 tsp. honey, and 2 Tbsp. water in a small bowl to combine; season sesame sauce with salt.

    Step 3

    Cut lemon lengthwise into quarters, then thinly slice crosswise. Toss in a small bowl with remaining 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil and remaining 1 tsp. honey; season lightly with salt.

    Step 4

    Spread sesame sauce on a platter and arrange broccolini on top. Scatter lemon over; sprinkle with sesame seeds.

    Step 5

    Do Ahead: Sesame sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before using.

Read More
Bugak is the ideal light beer snack: It’s crunchy, salty, and the fresher it’s made, the better. Thin sheets of kimchi add an extra spicy savory layer.
We don’t bake with grapes as often as we should. But even the most average supermarket varieties come alive when roasted with a bit of sugar and seasoning.
Fufu is a dish that has been passed down through many generations and is seen as a symbol of Ghanaian identity and heritage. Making fufu traditionally is a very laborious task; this recipe mimics some of that hard work but with a few home-cook hacks that make for a far easier time.
Cool off with this easy zaru soba recipe: a Japanese dish of chewy buckwheat noodles served with chilled mentsuyu dipping sauce, daikon, nori, and scallions.
The kimchi brine is the secret hero here; just a splash of it brightens the cocktail while deepening it with a little funky je ne sais quoi.
Native American people made these with cornmeal dumplings, simmering them with wild grapes, which were harvested at their peak sweetness.
This sauce is slightly magical. The texture cloaks pasta much like a traditional meat sauce does, and the flavors are deep and rich, but it’s actually vegan!
Oyster mushrooms are a strong all-rounder in the kitchen, seeming to straddle both plant and meat worlds in what they look and taste like when cooked. Here they’re coated in a marinade my mother used to use when cooking Chinese food at home—honey, soy, garlic and ginger—and roasted until golden, crisp, and juicy.