Vegetables Broccoli Charred Broccoli with Blue Cheese Dressing and Spiced Crispies Be the first to rate & review! Chicago chef Stephanie Izard amps up broccoli with a punchy vinaigrette, creamy blue cheese dressing and an irresistibly crunchy, butter-toasted Rice Krispies topping. Slideshow: More Broccoli Recipes By Stephanie Izard Stephanie Izard Video Best New Chef Stephanie Izard. Video Stephanie Izard describes what it means to be named a Best New Chef. Born 1976; Evanston, IL ("I was born the day before Halloween, October 30. My mother calls me 'devil's child.'") Education Le Cordon Bleu; Scottsdale, AZ Experience Sanctuary Camelback Mountain, Paradise Valley, AZ; Christopher's Fermier Brasserie, Phoenix; Vong, Spring, La Tache and Scylla, Chicago. How she opened Scylla when she was just 27 "I was cooking at La Tache, and one of the cooks said, 'You should open your own restaurant.' That was it. The next week I quit, got a giant loan, bought a building and opened Scylla. I think I was on a big adrenaline rush; I could not do that again by myself now." Childhood Experience "I always cooked with my mom; we'd shop together every Sunday and then cook together. She's a good cook, but now I notice that she uses things like jarred garlic; I throw her under the bus every time I do a demo." How she knew she wanted to be a cook "When I was growing up, I was always watching Martin Yan's Yan Can Cook and Julia Child while all my friends were watching Saved By the Bell." Memorable Cooking Experience "When I was eight, my family went to Epcot. We went to 'France' and had ham-filled crêpes with mushroom béchamel sauce. When we got home, I looked through cookbooks and recreated the dish pretty much exactly. My parents couldn't believe it." Kitchen Tool Vegetable peeler. "My sous chef just got me one from an Asian market. It's got a little green face with little googly eyes on it. It also has a wasabi shredder on the inside." Memorable Meal Tetsuya's in Sydney. "I was by myself. It's the only time I've done a big 10-course tasting by myself. I spent the whole time watching everyone else eat, watching their eyes light up. It was also the first time I'd gotten a chef's cookbook and then gotten to eat their food." Cheap Eat San Soo Gab San, a Korean restaurant in Chicago. "They're open late, and the chap chae [a cold noodle dish] is ridiculous. We get a table for 20, sit on the floor and cook all our own food—which, maybe, after a night of cooking, isn't the best part. But we have a little party there." Guilty Pleasure Tamari rice crackers with The Laughing Cow cheese. "It's my go-to snack in the kitchen. There are always tamari rice crackers sitting on my station; I dip them in whatever I'm making that day." Next Restaurant Little Goat. "It will be a diner, with a bar, opening in late fall. We're also going to make all kinds of breads there; we're going to blow up the bread program. So you'll be able to walk in at 7 a.m. and get bread right from the oven." Upcoming Cookbook Girl in the Kitchen (Fall 2011). Advantage to winning Top Chef season 4 "After oversleeping and missing my flight to the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, I was 20th on the standby list for the next flight. Then a woman at the counter saw me and said 'That's my Top Chef!' She snapped her fingers and said, 'Get my Top Chef on the plane!'" Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on June 1, 2015 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: © John Kernick Total Time: 50 mins Yield: 6 Ingredients DRESSING 1/3 cup heavy cream Pinch of crushed red pepper Pinch of dark brown sugar 3 ounces smoked or Maytag blue cheese, crumbled (see Note) 1/3 cup sour cream Salt BROCCOLI 2 pounds broccoli, cut into 1 1/2-inch florets with stems 1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar 1 1/2 tablespoons harissa 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest plus 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 1 1/2 teaspoon Sriracha 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1/3 cup minced shallots Salt Pepper 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 cup crisped rice cereal, such as Rice Krispies Directions Make the dressing In a small saucepan, warm the heavy cream until hot. Whisk in the crushed red pepper, sugar and one-third of the blue cheese until melted. Let cool completely, then whisk in the sour cream and the remaining cheese. Season the dressing with salt. Prepare the broccoli In a large saucepan of salted boiling water, blanch the broccoli until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Drain well and spread on a large baking sheet to cool. In a blender, combine the vinegar, harissa, lemon zest and juice, soy sauce, mustard and Sriracha and puree. With the blender on, gradually add the olive oil until incorporated. Transfer the vinaigrette to a medium bowl and stir in the shallots. Season with salt and pepper. In a medium skillet, melt the butter. Add the cereal and 11/2 teaspoons of the harissa vinaigrette and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and transfer to a paper towel–lined plate to drain. Light a grill or preheat a grill pan. In a large bowl, toss the broccoli with half of the remaining vinaigrette and season with salt. Grill the broccoli over moderately high heat, turning occasionally, until lightly charred all over, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Spread the blue cheese dressing on a platter and scatter the broccoli on top. Garnish with the spiced crispies and serve, passing the remaining harissa vinaigrette at the table. Make Ahead The blue cheese dressing can be refrigerated overnight. Notes Izard likes using Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue Cheese. Suggested Pairing To go with the funkiness of the blue cheese in this salad, try a Farmhouse Ale. Rate it Print