Simple College Cooking 101: Episode 1: Brothers’ beloved broccoli

24Aug08

(dedicated to my lil’ bro, Jon, and to “Miguel,” who requested the recipe to the “delicious” broccoli in a previous post)

Growing up in my household, we at broccoli nearly every day. It was the same thing, day in and day out; my mother would brighten each dinner table with a large platter of dark green broccoli. To some (ie, President Bush the Senior), this would be an unspeakable horror, but to us it was a fact of life. I thought broccoli made its daily appearance because of its health benefits (iron, fiber, etc.), but there was actually a simpler reason why: it was simply the only vegetable my eldest brother would eat when he was younger.

Now that picky little boy has grown up and will be cooking for himself in a coed (!!) apartment this coming school year, and I can only help him by providing him with some simple recipes of family favorites. Hopefully he will enjoy this as much as I do.

Brothers’ Beloved Broccoli

Serves 1-2

Ingredients

1 head of broccoli
salt
cooking oil
1/3 cup water

Directions
1. Wash the broccoli, and cut it into bite-sized pieces. If you like eating the stem, you can cut that as well, otherwise just keep the crown of the broccoli.
2. Heat approximately 1 tbsp of cooking oil in a medium pan on high. When the oil is heated (when it flows readily in the pan when the pan is swirled), carefully place the broccoli in the pan, one handful at a time.
3. Stir the broccoli briefly and saute for approximately 1-2 minutes. Don’t let it go too long, otherwise you will burn the broccoli.
4. Add 1/3 cup cold water.
5. Add salt (to taste– I usually add approximately a tsp of salt, although it will vary depending on your tastes, how much water you’ve added, etc.– you may add pepper at this point, as well)
6. Saute (basically toss and stir) the broccoli for approximately 4 minutes. Cover the pan and allow the broccoli to steam for this period of time.
7. Serve!

**Side note: I will be periodically posting up simple recipes for my brother to follow (kind of like an online recipe book/resource with easy foods). Requests and suggestions are always welcome!

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