Love broccoli in any form but raw. When I put it on a crudite tray or in pasta salad I always blanch it first. Perks up the color and flavor.
I also love its cousins cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, turnips, napa, etc. Mmmm.
I never thought I would like broccoli until I ate it with Jack in the Box’s chicken teriyaki bowls, which also includes rice and carrots. Good stuff, actually. I’ve also had it served as a side dish at my company’s cafeteria.
[mild hijack]
Does anyone remember the press statement George Bush Sr. made about hating broccoli after several broccoli farmers had it delivered to the White House? I’ve looked for sound clips of him talking about this but have never found one. Maybe someone can point me to a WAV/MP3 link. He said something to the effect of “my mother made me eat broccoli as a child. As President of the United States, I do not have to eat it!”
[/mild hijack]
I love broccoli. How many other vegtables are named after a movie producer? It’s also got fiber, vitamins and a bunch of cancer preventing stuff. That’s good too.
I love broccoli raw, I love it steamed, I loved it stir fried, I love it grilled. I love it in omelettes. I love it on a pizza. I love it mixed in with my mashed potatoes.
Oh man. I need to get a big bag of broccoli florets at costco tonight. I’ll sit down wiht a small bowl of vidalia onion dressing and be in broccoli nirvana.
** dwc1970**, the farmers sent Bush the broccoli after he made his comment about not having to eat it now that he was President. The broccoli came from the Broccoli Capital of the World, otherwise known as Greenfield, CA (right down the road from the Lettuce Capital, Salinas, and the Artichoke Capital, Castroville).
My opinion: broccoli, brussel sprouts, asparagas = good; peas, spinach, squash = bad. Very bad. And tomatoes are just evil.
That’s the real reason Bush Sr. lost the re-election bid. It wasn’t read my lips. He lost the broccoli vote.
I love broccoli! Pretty much any way except raw. It’s at the top of my list of everyday vegetables, and holding hands with my favorite “every once in a while” (because it’s usually more expensive and takes longer to cook) vegetable – fresh artichoke.
And Incubus, I am most decidedly not going to utter the phrase “rock band”…
oh, drat.
I like broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, spinich and peas. And I’ve liked them all since I was young.
I hardly ever buy the stuff though, because my husband won’t eat most cooked green veggies. BUT, when I do I eat a ton of it. hahaha
Ok, I admit it. I like the taste of broccoli.
What I don’t like, and I’ve noticed this in several different stores, is the fact that there are leeeettle bitty critters in the florets. They look like tiny spiders, but who can tell when they’re so small. And, since there is so muny nooks and crannies for them to get wedged into, it’s impossible to get them out. I don’t worry so much about the ones I find… it’s the ones I don’t find that bother me.
(And please don’t tell me about how I eat bug parts every day. I just don’t want to hear that. Mmmkay? Thanks!)
If I ever find a good way to clean broccoli, I’ll resume eating it.
Didn’t like it as a kid, but I love it now. I have a broccoli with pasta or rice dish nearly every day for lunch.
Don’t throw away the good stuff!
I think stems are the best part, if you prepare them correctly. You have to peel off and cut away all the skin and fibrous layers, leaving only the succulent core. Steamed it’s the best ever.
My parents never made broccoli for me. It looked weird to me, also.
But when I was 22 or so, I tried it (frozen, then cooked) and i loved it!
Especially with butter.
LOVE the broccli. My favorite veggie (unless you coun’t the potato, which I don’t. Taters are their own food group.) I love it steamed with a bit of salt, or even raw. I will eat it in a box…
Also love asparagus, spinach and artichokes but HATE brussels sprouts. Blecch. My father keeps trying to convince me that they’re “just itty bitty cabbages!” but that doesn’t help, since I also hate cabbage.
Broccoli is quite tasty when covered with a little Kikoman soy sause and sprinkled with a bit of MSG.
mmmm MSG good plain!
Think of them as tiny little protein supplement pellets.
I was a non-vegetable eater as a kid. A few years ago, I discovered that it isn’t vegetables I don’t like, it was the way my mom cooked vegetables, which was pretty much the traditional Southern way: cook 'em til they’re good and dead.
Now I happily eat asparagus (roasted with balsamic vinegar, YUM!), zucchini, and EGGPLANT! I love EGGPLANT! And broccoli’s pretty good, too, although I agree about the OP about the need for sauce.
I’ve never eaten asparagus, or eggplant.
But will you eat it with a fox?
Like Aranea, my mom cooked vegetables (the only “fresh” in them being that they were usually freshly purchased from the freezer section of the grocery store) until they wept. With, if we were lucky, a little salt.
Ah, the joys of steaming fresh broccoli! And fresh almost anything else you want to stem – or not steam! Fresh veggies! Yum!
And welby, have you ever tried just baking a sweet potato in its jacket, then cutting it open and mashing the insides with nothing but a little butter? Almost everyone I know who hates sweet potatoes hates 'em because they only ever had the candied variety, loaded with marshmallows and brown sugar. Which is nice for dessert. But a simple baked sweet potato with a little butter is pure ambrosia!
Mom was a Southerner butrscotch my friend. I’ve had sweet potatoes cooked in more ways and styles than you can possibly understand. Never liked any of them.
My thinking: Something with the consistency of a potato should not be sweet. Ugh!
Vanilla, try asparagus. Next to brocolli, it’s the best!
I fell victim to the wide spread kid-led anti-broccoli conspiracy when I was a tad too. I admit it … I bought the hype.
I don’t think I ever even tried the stuff until I was in my late 20’s. I can’t believe what I was missing all those years. I love the stuff. The florettes, the stems, all of it. And I don’t need any off that stinkin’ Cheez Whiz either. Just a little butter, maybe a pinch of salt … or heck, I’ll eat 'em plain!
My biggest problem is that I’m an idiot in the kitchen and anytime I steam broccoli there is easily a 50-50 chance I’ll over cook it.
Over cooked broccoli sucks.
(I’ve still never tried a brussel sprout)