eat your vegetables: broccolini with goat cheese and garlic

A and I were in Vegas a few weekends ago and stayed at the always-amazing Wynn Hotel. I had never eaten at their SW Steakhouse before, so this was on our list to try. It's not as good as N9NE (still reigns as my favorite - their gnocchi, which our waiter described as "little pillows of love", literally melt in your mouth, the perfect complement to an already perfect steak), but they had a few unique dishes to talk about. First, the best part of the meal wasn't the wet-aged steak (great, but not the best I've ever had). The highlight was actually one of the items in the bread basket: bacon and cheese corn muffins. I almost had to get up and walk away from the table, I was afraid of making a scene when I bit into one. Maybe one day I'll try to make these.  But for now, I'm settling for an at-home attempt at my second favorite thing from this meal, the side dish of broccolini with goat cheese and garlic.

Grocery list (can you guess?): broccolini, goat cheese, garlic.

I started by blanching the trimmed broccolini: cook in boiling water for 5 minutes or until slightly tender, then drain and immediately rinse with cold water so they stay crisp and bright green. Slice 3-4 garlic cloves very thin, then saute in olive oil. Add the broccolini and cook for another 2 minutes. Sprinke some goat cheese crumbles across the top, turn off the heat, and season with salt and pepper. It was so simple I was *almost* surprised that I paid $12 for this in Vegas...