The Best Broccoli Ever

Broccoli has a bad reputation.

President Bush (the first one) banned broccoli from Air Force One and the White House for the duration of his presidency, saying:

I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.  - George H. W. Bush

That was pretty bad press for the poor cruciferous vegetable (a family that includes cabbage and brussels sprouts, putting the sad members of the Brassica genus among the least favorite veggies on anyone's lists). "Even the president doesn't eat broccoli, Mom, so why do I have to?"

Recently, poor broccoli has gotten dragged into the health care debate in the United States, with a Supreme Court Justice comparing health insurance to broccoli:

Could you define the market -- everybody has to buy food sooner or later, so you define the market as food, therefore, everybody is in the market; therefore, you can make people buy broccoli.

- Justice Antonin Scalia

Do you see a theme here? The president's mother made him eat it. Justice Scalia is worried about people being made to buy broccoli*. Why is it that so many people hate broccoli and see it as something you eat because it's healthy food, and even then you choke it down reluctantly, probably smothered in Cheez Whiz? That's not fair to broccoli. Oh, and don't give me the old "I hate it because I'm a "supertaster" argument, either, because we found out at a science fair that Dave is a "supertaster" and he loves the hell out of broccoli.

Yes, broccoli is good for you. But why do so many maintain the belief that "good for you" and "tastes like crap" are synonyms? You've got goodies like folate, Vitamins K and C, fiber and calcium, all contained in a vegetable that looks like a tiny tree! 

"Broccoli Forest" Artist: Carl Warner

I found a way of preparing broccoli that might, maybe, be able to convert some antibrassicans into broccoli eaters. Voluntary ones. If all you've ever had is floppy, overcooked broccoli, then of course you hate it. Boiling or steaming the life out of something isn't usually putting it in its best light, you know?

RECIPE FOR THE BEST BROCCOLI EVER

Two heads of broccoli
One garlic clove, peeled and chopped
Some olive oil
Salt and pepper
A lemon
A handful of shredded parmesan

Preheat the oven to 425F. Nice and hot. Cut the broccoli into little florets, then toss them with the olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic. Dump it onto a baking sheet in a single layer, and then put it into the oven for 15-20 minutes. Check it after 10 minutes, stir everything around a little, and put it back in. You're looking for the point after the florets to start turning a little brown but before they get floppy. You should be able to get a fork through the stems, but they should offer some resistance.

Take them out of the oven and toss them with a little lemon zest (just a little) and a tablespoon or two of lemon juice, depending how lemony you want it. I juiced half a lemon into two heads of broccoli and it was too much. Let it cool a little before adding a handful of parmesan and serving it up.

If you hate broccoli because of its bitterness, this is a recipe to try before giving up on it entirely. Roasting at a high heat takes all the bitterness out of broccoli and adds a sweet, nutty flavor. The garlic and lemon and cheese just take it to a whole new level.

Try it, and then come back and tell me if you liked it.

*I know that's not the actual argument he was trying to make. I still think it's silly.

What's for Dinner - Broccoli Cheddar Quiche

Often, when accosted by a head of floppy broccoli, I sentence the limp vegetable to a soupy demise, with delicious results. Broccoli cheddar soup is a wonderful way to use up less-than-stellar broccoli, or an excess of broccoli stems (for those of you who, like me, prefer to eat only the florets), but it's nice to have other options. Enter the alternative user-upper of vegetables in their decline: quiche.

It's an omelet in a pie - what's not to love? You barely even need a recipe for a quiche! Just eggs, some cream (or milk), a frozen pie crust, and whatever you want to throw in. My basic recipe for a quiche is as easy as:

6 eggs
3/4 cup light cream, or milk (skim milk makes it watery, I'd stick to 2% or more)
1/2 cup or so of grated cheese (cheddar, swiss, monterey jack, whatever you've got)
1 cup or so of veggies
1/2 cup of ham or browned and crumbled sausage (optional), or a handful of bacon bits
One refrigerated or frozen pie crust, pre-baked

Bake the crust according to directions for a one-crust pie - mine needed 10 minutes at 425F. If you don't have pie weights to keep the crust down, poking some holes in the bottom with a fork works pretty well to prevent the crust from bubbling up while it bakes.

Cut the veggies pretty small and pre-cook them either by sauteeing (good for mushrooms, onions, spinach, and peppers) or by steaming (best for broccoli). Whisk the eggs and cream together, then add in the other ingredients until you have a thick eggy soup, then pour it into your pre-baked pie shell. Easy as that. If you want to get fancy, you can keep some of the prettiest mushroom slices and arrange them in a pattern across the top, or use thin tomato slices. I never add any seasoning other than salt and pepper, because I like to taste just the egg and veggies. Note: if you're using a salty meat in your quiche, don't add salt!

Cooking time is a little fuzzy, because it will be different depending on how deep the pie plate is, and what kind of cream or milk you used (in my experience, thinner dairy makes a slightly longer cooking time). I usually start checking it at 25 minutes, and then poking it every 5 minutes thereafter until the middle part is set nicely. Nobody likes a runny quiche. Just poke a thin knife into the center of the pie and see if it feels closer to soup or quiche. when you hit quiche, it`s ready.
 

For the quiche I made, I used about a cup of steamed broccoli, chopped small, along with half an onion and half a package of white mushrooms, cooked in a pat of butter. I added some sharp cheddar cheese, and since I didn't have any ham or bacon handy, I kept it meatless. Quiche is always an easy, cheap meal. Also, it's not too far removed from the eternal favorite fun meal: breakfast-for-dinner.


Edited Feb 3 2013 to add cooking time. Thanks to Tasha for spotting that I missed it the first time around.

Crêpes

Crêpes were always a Christmas morning tradition with my family, either at home or at Grandmaman's house. We woke up too late this Christmas to bother with breakfast, since we were off for a huge feast at my in-laws in the afternoon, so I shifted crêpe day to New Year's Day instead. A great start to the year, I think!

Crêpes

4 eggs

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

2 cups milk

1 tsp soft butter

(Makes approximately 8 large crepes)

Beat the eggs with the soft butter, sugar, and salt, until they're frothy. Add milk and keep beating. Using a whisk is usually best. Add the flour and beat out the lumps, but it's ok if you've got small lumps, it won't matter. Keep the batter cold. This is very important. I usually leave an ice cube or two in the bowl of batter, especially if it's going to sit a few minutes before it goes into the pan.

Heat your pan with butter and a little oil (canola, vegetable, whatever you have handy) and wait till it's hot enough to make a drop of water sizzle. Drop a ladle full of batter into the center of the pan and tip and swirl the pan to coat the whole surface. When the edges of the crêpe curl and brown, shake the pan. If the crêpe moves freely, it's ready to flip. Shake it so it's hanging out of the pan a little on one edge, then slide a spatula under it to help you flip it. If you have mad kitchen skills and think you can flip it with a flick of your wrist, feel free, but I can never make that work.

This is what it should look like when you flip it:

Once flipped, cook the other side for 30 seconds to one minute, then transfer (slide) to a plate.

These are savory crêpes, not sweet dessert ones. Normally I cover them with a thin sprinkling of brown sugar, then roll them up and drizzle maple syrup over them, and they really don't need to be any further improved. You could also put ham and cheese or any other savory fillings in them - after flipping the crêpe, lay some cheese and whatever else you want on one half of the crepe and then flip the other half over it. Instant filled crêpe.

While you do not need a fancy crêpe pan to make crepes, I do recommend getting one if you're going to make crêpes with any regularity. Flipping them is much simpler with a special pan because of the low edges, and I find the heat is very even, at least in the one I have. Look for one that's about 10 inches across and has a very shallow lip. You don't need a "crêpe spreader" tool, just tipping the pan is plenty to get the batter spread out. If you're using a normal frying pan, you will be fine, but it may be trickier to get a spatula underneath the crêpe to flip it.

What's for Dinner - One Pot Mac and Cheese

It has happened. I have found the perfect mac & cheese recipe. I thought for sure it would take me several years of recipe testing before I finally stumbled on the cheesy holy grail, but this recipe fell into my lap (well, my Gmail chat window) recently and I am happy enough to end my search right here.

Like the caramelized onions, this recipe comes from someone's blog. This is One Pot, Stove Top, Creamy Mac and Cheese from White On Rice Couple, and they completely nailed mac & cheese. I'm talking out-of-the-park, 110% deliciousness here. I could decide to never try another mac and cheese recipe in my whole life and would likely not have any deathbed regrets.


The magic? Cooking the noodles in the milk. Genius! It keeps things super creamy, and it also keeps cleanup easy since you're only using one pot. They warn you to stay nearby and stir constantly, and I will back that up. I let it sit for 30 seconds while I grated cheese, and got a layer of scorched milk - it happens quickly and you need to stay around and watch. My only change to the recipe was my noodle choice - I went with mini spirals because they were adorable. I needed to add more milk near the end, because the pasta soaked a lot up, but that may happen with any noodle type, I'm not sure. I love their recipe, because it's so flexible. Need more milk? Dump it in. Cheese? Whatever you've got, nobody's here to judge you. I used a mix of one part asiago to three parts monterey jack, and it was perfect. I'm actually nervous about changing up the cheeses, because this combination worked so well!

Making it superperfect, though, was a simple matter of adding caramelized onions to the bowl. I suspect bacon would have a similar effect.

What's for Dinner - Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese

I started with a Food Network recipe and played around with it a little, as usual. The comments section on the website hinted at the recipe being a bit dry, so I tried to fix that with more liquid and cheese. And then I added bacon, the king of meats. Here's the final list of ingredients I ended up using in my version:

1 box medium shells
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup light cream
1/2 pound smoked Gouda cheese, grated (not sure how many cups it made, I just used half of the one-pound block of cheese)
1/4 cup grated monterey jack cheese (because I had extra and figured hey, more cheese can't hurt)
6 slices bacon
Salt and pepper

Fry the bacon really crispy - it's for making bacon bits to add to the mac & cheese.

Get your noodles boiling while you make the sauce: melt the butter in a pot until it's frothy, and whisk in the flour. Cook that for a couple of minutes until it darkens a little, then whisk in the milk and cream. Keep whisking so nothing burns, and let it bubble for about ten minutes, until it thickens up. The recipe said to stop when the sauce was as "smooth and thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon", so I was dunking a wooden spoon in it every couple of minutes. I'm sure I looked like a dork.

When your wooden spoon test is positive, celebrate by dumping the grated cheese into the pot and pulling it off the heat. Keep whisking! Your whisk will become unwieldy due to the glob of cheese that is sure to form inside it, but smacking it against the pot and/or poking it with your sauce-coated wooden spoon will help. Add some salt and pepper.

Add sauce to noodles, or the other way around, in a casserole dish. Then stir in the bacon. Mmmmm, bacon. I was going to add a breadcrumb topping but didn't have any left in the pantry, so it went into the oven naked. After 20 minutes at 375F, it was bubbly and smelled great!

Alas, my tweaks didn't quite save the recipe. It was good, but still a bit dry and not as cheesy as I'd hoped. The smoked gouda didn't melt well at all, leaving a chunky sauce instead of the creaminess you'd expect from a mac and cheese dish. Next time I'll try using smoked cheddar instead, because I liked the "smokiness" (and the bacon! Lord, did I love the bacon!) and I want to give it another shot. Why is it so hard to find the perfect macaroni and cheese??

Homemade Spinach and Basil Pesto

Well, what better to do with tons of basil?

I keep forgetting we have a food processor. I've not yet decided if I forget about it because I don't use it, or I don't use it because I forget it exists. Chicken, egg, who knows. Luckily it does exist (conveniently, in my kitchen), so I was able to pull this together today. I suppose this may be possible to achieve in a blender, but I think the risk of complete liquefaction may be too high.

Most pesto recipes call for pine nuts. Pine nuts are expensive and I don't really like them anyway, so I went with walnuts instead. Go, omega-3s!

Spinach and Basil Pesto

9 oz package of baby spinach leaves
1 cup of basil leaves
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of walnuts
2 tbsp good olive oil, and keep more on hand for later
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
Pepper

Toast the walnuts in a pan or in the oven and crush them until they're almost a powder. I put them in a ziplock bag and rolled a coffee mug over them a few dozen times.

Mince the garlic and saute in the olive oil for a couple of minutes. Toss in the spinach leaves and let them wilt - you don't want to cook them much, just get them wilty and soft. Dump it all into the food processor. Add the nuts, cheese, and basil, and pulse until they turn into mush, then add the lemon juice, salt, and some pepper, then pulse a bit more while adding a drizzle of olive oil until you like the consistency. I found I needed about 2 extra tbsp of olive oil, on top of what I cooked the spinach in. I also needed more salt, but I'm leaving the recipe at 1/2 tsp because I'm not sure how much more I added. I just sprinkled more on with the salt shaker and pulsed the processor a few times, until I was happy with the taste.

I took the advice of some online friends and froze most of my pesto in an ice cube tray. Once it's solid I'll move it to a ziplock bag and keep it in the freezer until I want to use some.

My pictures didn't turn out well, so I'll leave the green creamy deliciousness to your imagination for now. It's pretty, and very, very green. When I use some in a pasta dinner, I'll make sure to get a decent picture.

What's for Dinner - Fresh Tomato Salad

I love having a Costco membership, but the danger is that I end up with ridiculous amounts of food every time I go. Most of the time it's frozen or non-perishable stuff, so I've got plenty of time to make my way through it all, but sometimes I'm tempted by the produce section, and with just the two of us here at home, it can be hard to avoid wasting anything. For example, I picked up a huge clamshell container of cherry tomatoes recently, thinking we could use them in salads all week, but honestly, how many tomatoes can you put in an average salad?

That's why I tried making a tomato salad instead, as a side. To be honest, it turned out suspiciously like tomato bruschetta, but the balsamic vinegar and the fact that I am pointedly not serving it with bread is enough to convince me I can call it something different.

Fresh Tomato Salad

40 cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp diced red onion
4 large basil leaves
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Generous grind of black pepper


Cut the tomatoes in half, cut the basil leaves in a chiffonade, (little strips) then mix everything together in a bowl or tupperware. Let it sit at room temperature for at least an hour, and mix it up a little to let everything marinate together. It's good cold or at room temperature. I didn't feel the need for salt, but I won't be mad at you if you add some.

Party Pasta Salad

I don't know why pasta salads only ever seem to show up at parties and picnics, because they're easy and delicious. This one, as you can guess from my title, was made for a party. My sister-in-law's baby shower, that is. Because it was made for a big party, it's a big recipe! This will serve a crowd at a party or as a side for a cookout. It's a recreation of a pasta salad I once bought at the deli counter at Giant.

1 box pasta, cooked and drained - I like farfalle or tri-colored pastas
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small red pepper, chopped into small pieces
Half a red onion, cut into rings, then cut the rings in half
1/2 cup (packed) baby spinach leaves, chopped
2/3 cup sundried tomato salad dressing
1 tsp dried oragano
1/4 cup shredded parmesan or asiago cheese
salt & pepper

Directions: mix everything, chill in the fridge a while to let the flavors mix, and then eat.

The amount of dressing you need will vary depending on your taste, and on the noodles. I sometimes find I need to add more after the salad has sat in the fridge overnight, because the noodles drink in all the dressing and leave the salad a little dry. I'm sure it would be tasty with other dressings, too, but I haven't played around with that yet.

Because I was so busy with the party, I forgot to take a picture of the one I made this weekend, but I had a picture from the last time I threw it together:

As with all pasta salads, it's flexible and you can change the amounts of the ingredients or omit some altogether. Oh, and because this is meat-free and not made with mayonnaise, it can sit out on the table for a while without poisoning your party. A big plus!

What's for Dinner - Rice with Onions

Sick of mashed potatoes, and bored with plain rice, I decided to ask Mr. Bittman for advice. The purple rice (not its official cookbook name) from How To Cook Everything was a delicious hit, so it was worth going back to his rice section and looking at my options.

I selected the clearly and austerely named "Rice with onions". No mistaking what you're getting in a recipe like that! I halved it because it makes a ton of rice, but I'm giving you the full recipe here in case you're feeding a horde.

Rice With Onions

3 to 4 cups thinly-sliced onions
4 tablespoons butter (or olive oil - but I used butter)
1 1/2 cups long grain rice
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp dried thyme
3 cups warm chicken, beef, or vegetable stock

You put the onions in the pot you'll be making the rice in, and cook them, covered (don't add butter or oil yet) until they're dried out a little but not brown. It takes about 10 minutes. Add the butter and thyme, toss the onions to coat in the melted butter, then add the rice and toss to coat it with the butter too. Add salt and pepper. Stir in the broth and let cook for 30-45 minutes, covered, stirring every now and then, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is soft.


This was so good that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to make boring white rice again. Incredibly creamy, with a little sweetness from the onions, and a lot of flavor from the thyme. I think I forgot to half the thyme, actually, so you could increase the amount and it won't hurt you.

What's for Dinner - Balsamic Roasted Tomato Pasta

Sometimes, dinner isn't great.

I bought a huge package of grape tomatoes at Costco last week and we weren't getting through them fast enough to use them all up before they went soft, so I scoured the internet for a recipe I could use them in. A couple of people had variations on this pasta with grape tomatoes roasted in balsamic vinegar, and that sounded like it might work.

While I got some water boiling for spaghetti noodles, I halved about 2 cups worth of cherry tomatoes (what I had left), added some balsamic vinegar, minced garlic, and olive oil to them, and then stirred them to coat them evenly. Instead of washing one of my mixing bowls, all of which were dirty and in the sink at the time, I took a big Glad-ware container out of the cupboard, figuring it was sufficiently bowl-like to do the job. When I picked the container up to pour the tomatoes into a baking dish, I had a huge mess all over the counter. Balsamic and oil everywhere.


After cleaning up the mess and getting the tomatoes into the oven, I inspected the container and saw that the corner was riddled with little holes!


I guess I must have melted it in the microwave last time I was reheating something. Two thoughts occurred to me. First, ew, I probably ate melted plastic. Second, I need to get some good plastic containers for food storage and stop relying on the little Glad things.

After the tomatoes were soft and slightly browned, I put them in a bowl with two cups of fresh spinach leaves, and then dumped some spaghetti noodles on top. The heat from the tomatoes and pasta wilted the spinach down to almost nothing. I added shredded asiago cheese bit by bit until I had about half a cup mixed in.


We had this as a side dish with a rotisserie chicken, and I was disappointed with it. I like the flavor of balsamic vinegar very much, but it seems weird in a hot pasta dish. It's got too much sweetness. I think this would be highly successful as a cold pasta salad, but I didn't get the chance to try it cold because the next day when I went to have leftovers, I knocked the bowl off the shelf of the fridge and had a floor full of pasta and squished tomatoes.

What's for Dinner - Tomato alphabet soup

I was so incredibly exhausted last night because of a long week at work, so my dinner will have to count as my "Thing 9". I did make the soup without a real recipe, so it's sort of creative. I also made grilled ham & cheese sandwiches to go with it. I hadn't made those in years!

Here's more or less how I made it:

I diced three skinny carrots and half an onion and then cooked them in a generous dollop of olive oil until the onions were soft. Then I dumped in a box of chicken stock and a big can of tomato sauce, and some black pepper, oregano, basil, and a bay leaf. I let that boil for a few minutes to let the carrots soften up, then used my immersion blender to puree everything (take out the bay leaf first). I added a tablespoon or so of butter to make it creamier, and then I put in half a box of teeny alphabet noodles and kept it simmering until they were cooked.

It's delicious.

What's for Dinner - Grandmaman Adèle's Stuffed Tomatoes

Another wonderful recipe from the family book that turned out incredibly delicious. This is definitely making me want to keep going and try them all!

Grandmaman Adèle's Stuffed Tomatoes

Her recipe:

2 slices of bacon, chopped
1/2 medium onion, diced
4 medium tomatoes
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup light cream
1 slice whole wheat bread, shredded
1 cup mild cheese (gouda, cheddar, monterey jack)

Fry up the bacon with the onions till onions are soft, and set them aside in a mixing bowl. Add eggs, cream, mustard, bread, and cheese to the bowl, and mix well. Use a sharp knife to cut off the top of the tomatoes, and scoop them out with a spoon. Fill them with the stuffing and cook at 450 for about 15 minutes or until the tops get brown and crispy.


My changes:
Had no bacon, so I sprinkled some bacon salt into the mix.
Had no Dijon mustard, so I used Hellman's Dijonnaise.
Had a whole wheat baguette so wasn't sure how much I needed... I kept adding bread to it until it looked like a stuffing instead of a soup. I think if you followed the recipe exactly you'd have a squishier result, so I recommend adding more bread. It ended up being about 1/3 of a small baguette.

These were delicious. We had 4 medium tomatoes to stuff, and had enough stuffing left over that I managed to also fill half a giant tomato that I found in the fridge (I think its other half was involved in last weekend's party dip). Definitely err on the side of bigger tomatoes for this recipe, because especially if you increase the amount of bread, you get a lot of stuffing. The end result tastes somewhere between a bacony quiche and an oniony, mustardy omelette, smooshed into a tomato.

There are so many possibilities for this dish - varying the cheese or the type of bread will give you different flavors to play with. Considering how well this one was received, it's on the "try again" list for sure, so I'll be changing it up now and then to see what works. I'll also use real bacon next time!