Broccoli

After some ponderings, and someone asking me about it, I've decided to come clean in case some people were thinking it. No, the picture of the Osso Buco was not a picture of what I had. That was taken from the web.

I haven't given a whole lot of thought in terms of presentation of food. I'm still focusing on the "not poisoning myself" aspect of cooking. I was thinking the other day -- if I poisoned myself, and I died in my condo, how long would it be before someone noticed I was missing? I wonder how long it would take for my body to rot to the point that the neighbors would smell it. Chalk that one down for another sucky thing about being single. Hmm.. I think I have blogged about this before..

Back to the kitchen...

I like to buy crowns of broccoli, because I don't know what to do with the stems. I often find myself throwing away the stems, which seems like such a waste, so why buy them? Besides, I prefer the flowers. What I've read is that you take the stems and cut them length-wise. Shorten them if you wish. Look for green as possible. Don't buy the yellow/faded flowers, and look out for stems that feel soggy or soft. Those are bad.

That was probably all common sense for the average person, and you're probably thinking "Gosh, Brian didn't even know that part?!". Yea, I didn't.

What I've read, unless you're making a cream of broccoli, chicken broth is the way to go in terms of flavoring it. When you boil broccoli, it becomes soft and soggy. You want to avoid that as much as possible because.. well, who wants to eat soggy vegetables? I notice that when you boil them, the green color becomes more vibrant. One other way to see is if the stem starts to turn a bit translucent.

The last time I did this, I boiled them til I noticed the color changing, and pulled them out quicky and then stir-fried them. But I didn't know about the chicken stock part yet. All I did was melt Edam cheese on top, which was also good.

I guess that's nothing special. But before all I do is either boil them or fry them, neither of them really made them that much better than just eating them raw.

So tonight I'm going to use the chicken stock, and the "colorizing" method, and then stir-fry it with the garlic... and maybe some wine :D

Loblaws is selling steaks. Strip loin grilling steaks. These things usually go for $22/kg but for some reason they have them at $13/kg. This is like bringing a kid to a candy store and telling him everything his half price. I bought 15 steaks.

So tonight will be steak #1, with broccoli.