When cooking broccoli, you need to keep three things in mind: salt, fat, and the Maillard reaction.
Raw broccoli tastes incredibly bitter, so it’s important to make sure it’s cooked through. At the same time, you want to avoid sogginess, since that ruins the texture—we still want a nice crunch.
The solution is to steam it. Start with a cold frying pan and add the broccoli, a thin layer of water, a good sprinkle of salt, and one or two spoons of oil, making sure there’s much more water than oil.
Cover the pan with a lid and turn the heat to maximum. As the water begins to boil, the turbulence naturally dissolves the salt into the water, which then seasons the broccoli evenly.
As the liquid reduces, steam can get trapped under the oil, causing little popping explosions. Don’t worry, that’s normal—just hold the lid firmly and gently rock the pan back and forth to keep things under control.
Once all the water has cooked off, the Maillard reaction begins. From there it’s up to you how flavorful—or indulgent—you’d like your broccoli to be.