In my modeling days, I got to travel to some incredible places and spend a good amount of time in each, my favorite being Milan. I basically used it as an excuse to travel and taste every food imaginable. One of my favorite restaurants in Milan had this baby broccoli dish with pangritata that I always ordered when I went. It made a typically boring vegetable spectacular.

Before that, I had no idea what pangritata was. It’s an Italian crispy breadcrumb topping that mixes in cheese, herbs, and citrus. It basically makes any dish better than it would be without it.

I’ve used it a ton in my cooking since—making it gluten-free, of course. I’ve found that Aleia’s gluten-free panko breadcrumbs or homemade ones are the absolute best for this!

• Baby Broccoli – This is the main vegetable used here, however you can really use any vegetable of choice, just note the cooking method would be different. The key is that the vegetable is mostly cooked and al dente before finishing it with the pangritata.
• Gluten Free Breadcrumbs – Like I said above, Aleia’s gluten free panko breadcrumbs are the best here. You can use any panko breadcrumb of choice however.
• Parmesan Cheese – This is used in the pangritata and adds great umami. You can use any hard cheese of choice here.
• Lemon – We use the lemon juice plus zest from a lemon for this. Don’t omit!