I have mentioned this little Quick Tip a while back with one of my favorite salads, but I think it deserves it’s own post. I saw this on Good Eats (one of my favorites when I used to be a Food Network Junkie) awhile back, and I’ve been doing it ever since.
A word about broccoli first: Fresh vs. Frozen
In my opinion, fresh will always beat frozen. You lose control when you use frozen. You end up with too many end pieces mixed in with the flowerettes and the quality… the quality is not as good (soggy). There are only a few vegetables that maintain their quality frozen: peas and corn.
For the Quick Tip:
Once you’ve cut off all the little broccoli flowerettes, and their floating happily in their water bath. Go to work on those stems (don’t throw them out!) Shave off all the tough exterior, to find the soft inside. I love to eat it fresh, right then. Avery loves it too! You should try it!
Great tip! I never thought to shave the stems. Going to have to try this!
I have to give a plug for Costco's frozen broccoli. We eat tons of broccoli, so this is great for us! And it's all florets – not stems so it's as close to fresh as you'll get!
We love broccoli…and I knew none of these tricks! Thank you.
I made the mistake of buying "Chopped Broccoli" once…"Broccoli Dust" would have been more appropriate. BUT – it's great for a quiche.
I just spent a bit of time going through your blog. Sometimes I don't know if blogging is good for me or makes me feel like flop girl. I see all these women with the most amazing talent and the cutest decorated homes. I'm soooo not that woman. I'm lucky if there is anything on my walls let alone cutely done. Here's some of my favorites from your blog. Your homemade calendar, I want one! The party in the tub, love your baby girl's static hair. Lazy mans sledding, that is soooooo my thing. And last but not least "Twilight Party". Dang! I don't know the right people. Yes, I'm a big Twilight fan. I read all the books in 4 days. They've ruined all other books for me.
Your blog is awesome.
I agree with the corn and peas… everything else has to be fresh. My kids love the stems too! They also ask for the hard core in the middle of the pineapple – go figure!
Great tip! We are a broccoli loving family – it is one of the few veggies that my boys will eat!! I never thought to eat the stems – although my boys will certainly eat them. They ask for the stems after I chop it up. did I mention the love broccoli?
When I was a kid, I wouldn’t eat broccoli just because it was, well, broccoli. So, my mom peeled the stems just like this, cut them into pieces and told me it was a new vegetable called “un”. I devoured it.
To this day, I still love “un” (though I also enjoy the florets now, too). When you get down to the nice, soft inside, oh, it’s the best! It’s almost buttery. My husband doesn’t understand my obsession, so I, as the chef, get the stems all to myself. Mmmm.