Broccoli & Cauliflower Saute with Garlic & Ginger

This is AnnaLisa, Lara's sister.  Our brother, Nate, got me this awesome cookbook for Christmas.  It's called Fine Cooking Annual: A Year of Great Recipes, Tips & Techniques.  Since I had been living with Lara up until last week, I didn't really have much of a need to cook that often, but the other day I was craving a healthy side dish and found this one in there.    There were a couple of ingredients that we didn't have and so I left them out, but I was surprised at how much we liked it.  Even most of Lara's kids ate some!   The  recipe below is based on the one from the book, but with my tweaks.  

The ingredients:

1 pound broccoli (I used 1 head)
1 small head cauliflower
9 tablespoons olive oil (or more as needed)
Salt
3/4 cup water
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
Large pinch red pepper flakes; more to taste
1 teaspoon yellow mustard seed
4 medium cloves of garlic, finely chopped or minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger; peeled and finely chopped
1/3 cup cilantro

First I washed and cut up the broccoli and cauliflower into bite size pieces.  Then pour in 3 tablespoons of olive oil into a 12-inch skillet over high heat.   Add the broccoli.  Season with salt and then carefully add the water. Reduce the heat to medium high and cook, stirring occasionally, until the broccoli is tender and browned in spots, 8-10 minutes.  (If the pan begins to scorch as you are cooking, add a little oil and turn the heat down).  Transfer the broccoli to a large bowl.  Then cook the cauliflower the same way as the broccoli.
When finished cooking the cauliflower, put it in the same bowl as the broccoli.


Reduce the heat to medium.  Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the onion, and red pepper flakes. Season with salt.  Saute, stirring frequently, until the onion is golden brown and tender, about 8 minutes.  Push the onion to one side and add 1 tablespoon olive oil and the yellow mustard seed.  Let them sizzle for 1 minute, then add the garlic and ginger.  Cook, stirring, for 1 minute more- be careful not to let it burn.  

Return the broccoli and cauliflower to the pan, stir to combine.  Cook until hot, about 2 minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary.  Place it all in the bowl from before.  Sprinkle the cilantro on top.  Enjoy!