Sauteed Spinach and Broccoli

This is a really tasty vegetable dish that I had at my mom's house just the other night. She found the recipe online and we made a few adjustments. We used frozen broccoli florets instead of fresh and spinach instead of rapini. I made this again at home for my family and the 2nd time, I used fresh broccoli florets and less butter than the original recipe called for, which was half pound of butter, it still came out delicious.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds of broccoli florets (frozen or fresh)
1 1/2 pounds of spinach (we used fresh)
3 teaspoons of lemon zest
2 tablespoons of coarsely chopped shallots
4 ounces or 1 stick of butter
1/4 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1) On medium high, heat a large saute pan & melt 2 ounces(1/2 stick of butter). Add 1 1/2 tsp of lemon zest and 1 tablespoon of shallots to the hot melted butter.

(If you don't have a zesting tool use a paring knife, a potato peeler, or a grater to take off the yellow part of the rind. Try not to get to much of the white of the rind. If you are using a knife or peeler to remove the zest, you will need to cut those pieces to a smaller size.)


2) Saute lemon zest and shallots until shallots start to lightly brown. Add broccoli and saute for 3 minutes and then add the water and cover pan with a lid. If you are using frozen broccoli remember, that it is already cooked and all you are doing is heating it through again, so don't over cook it. Once the broccoli is done remove it from the pan and put it in a bowl.

3) In the same saute pan put the remaining butter, melt, and then add remaining zest and shallots. Once the shallots start to lightly brown add the spinach. Cook the spinach until it wilts. You will probably not be able to fit all the spinach in your pan at once so, as the spinach wilts down, add more to the pan. If you have a pair of tongs this is the best utensil to use for this.

4) Once the spinach is done, add to broccoli, season with salt and pepper to your taste, toss everything together and eat it.


Side Note: This would also be great to do with asparagus, summer squash, peas, or zucchini.