Confessions of a Broccoli Lover

I grew up in a family that ate broccoli often. We usually ate it three times a week. And it was not relegated to side-dish status.

We would begin our dinner with a pasta and broccoli soup--the broth was the water in which the broccoli cooked. Then we would eat the broccoli, braised with olive oil and garlic.

This was not the tender-crisp sort of broccoli but broccoli that was cooked until meltingly tender, until it developed a deep, rich flavor, and a texture like a wonderful garlicky puree. The broth was full of nutrients, as was the broccoli itself, but we only thought of how delicious it all was.

It is a sad truth that many Americans view eating fruits and vegetables as a necessary evil, and broccoli is the vegetable that symbolizes this way of thinking.

Many people believe that to make broccoli palatable it must be completely covered with a thick, oily topping of melted cheese. The implicit message in this dish is that if you add enough cheese, anything tastes good. Broccoli is even worse when, in the name of health, it is served undercooked. A gigantic stalk of broccoli, untrimmed and unseasoned and dumped unceremoniously on a plate, is a stark and pitiful sight.

It seems that people go out of their way to render the experience of eating broccoli a joyless one. President George Bush didn’t help when he added to the national vegetable phobia by announcing that he hates broccoli.

Unfortunately, supermarket broccoli often leaves something to be desired. When broccoli is allowed to grow to huge proportions, the flavor coarsens, the peel gets leathery, and the stalk and flowerets lose their succulence. This overgrown broccoli is what we often find in our produce sections. When broccoli is tender and young, it has a fresh flavor and succulent texture much like asparagus.

To understand how good broccoli can be, we have to learn its season, what to look for when buying it, and the best ways to clean and cook it. Broccoli is a cool-weather vegetable, at its peak from October through April. The best broccoli has slender stalks colored a deep green and flowerets with tightly closed buds. Broccoli with pale, thick stalks that have begun to flower or show signs of yellowing is past its prime. Occasionally markets will carry broccoli that has been harvested when the stalks are pencil-thin and radiantly green. When I see this, I rush to buy it--it is extraordinarily good.

Like every vegetable, broccoli needs to be treated carefully; even less-than-perfect broccoli will benefit by proper handling. All broccoli stalks, except the most tender, must be peeled. This takes very little time and allows the stem to be savored fully. Use a knife and work from the base up, removing the peel in long strips. Work your way around the base of the stalk until all the peel is removed. The skin on the small stems of the flowerets is tender and does not need to be peeled.

Broccoli can be cooked in two ways. One is to braise it or cook it slowly in a soup, as described above. The second way, the way that really highlights its flavor and texture, is to cook the broccoli lightly in salted boiling water. The trick here is to cook it long enough so that it is just tender. It should have no trace of rawness, nor should it be cooked to the degree that it loses its shape. Cook it a little more than you might normally if you tend to serve it on the raw side, or hold back just a bit if your tendency is toward mushy broccoli.

By tasting as you go along, you’ll soon learn to recognize that magic moment when flavor and texture meet. If this sounds tricky, it’s not. We give steak this consideration, why not broccoli?

Perhaps my favorite way of cooking broccoli is the simplest: I cook it lightly in salted, boiling water (the high heat seals in all the nutrients), drain it, and simply dress it with extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Its glowing green color and clean and bracing flavor give me an incredible feeling of well-being.

Sometimes I will accompany the broccoli with a few slices of fresh mozzarella and black olives--the plump, oil-cured ones. Sometimes I sprinkle red chile pepper on the mozzarella for a touch of heat. This will very often be my lunch.

Another dish that I find endlessly delicious is a salad of tomatoes, lightly cooked broccoli, black olives and fresh basil, again seasoned with olive oil and lemon juice. The strong colors--brilliant green, bright red--the aromatic qualities of basil and lemon juice and the wildly flavorful and healthful presence of broccoli make this one of the best salads I know.

Lightly cooked broccoli sauteed in olive oil, garlic and red chile pepper is one of the finest side dishes you can serve. Toss it with pasta and it becomes one of my favorite ways to eat pasta. Braised broccoli makes a wonderful sauce for pasta or polenta. Braise it slowly in olive oil and a generous amount of chopped garlic, adding a little water it cooks, until it breaks down into a creamy mass.

And then there is my family’s pasta-and-broccoli soup, a staple in many southern Italian families. This dish was prepared for us by my father’s mother. She was from a small town in the Madonie mountains outside Palermo, Sicily, and that is where my father spent his boyhood. Over the years I’ve eaten this soup hundreds of times, and yet whenever I eat it, I can never get enough.

We tend to regard recipes such as this one as side dishes only. To rethink the role vegetables can play at mealtime, try serving the broccoli as a first course accompanied by bruschetta spread with black olive paste. On a night when you feel in need of a tonic, serve it as a main dish.

BROCCOLI WITH GARLIC AND RED CHILE

1 bunch tender broccoli, about 1 1/2 pounds

Salt

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 to 4 cloves garlic, chopped

Small piece fresh red chile, finely chopped, or dash crushed hot red pepper

Trim tough ends of broccoli. Peel stalks. Depending on thickness of stalks, cut broccoli in halves or quarters lengthwise. Cook broccoli in abundant salted boiling water until just tender. Cooking time will depend on freshness of broccoli, but it can cook in as little as 4 minutes. Drain well in colander.

Combine olive oil, garlic and red chile in large saute pan. Cook over low heat 2 to 3 minutes, or until garlic is fragrant. Add broccoli and season to taste with salt. Turn stalks over gently several times to lightly coat with oil. Serve broccoli hot, warm or at room temperature. Makes 2 to 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

340 calories; 208 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 28 grams fat; 19 grams carbohydrates; 10 grams protein; 4 grams fiber; 75% calories from fat.

All you need to cook this dish is one pot of boiling water, a clever economy of effort that results in a fresh and lively tasting pasta. It’s all tossed with raw extra-virgin olive oil and paper-thin slices of raw garlic, warming them just enough to release their heady perfume. This is one dish you will want to make often.

PASTA WITH VIRGIN BROCCOLI

1 1/2 pounds tender broccoli

Salt

2 cloves garlic, sliced very thin

1 pound imported dried penne rigate

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Freshly ground pepper

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Trim tough ends of broccoli and peel stalks. Quarter broccoli lengthwise and cut into 2-inch long pieces. Cook broccoli in big pan of salted boiling water. When broccoli is just tender, lift out of water with strainer or slotted spoon, letting excess water drain back into pan. Place broccoli in pasta serving dish. Sprinkle with sliced garlic and season to taste with salt. Cover serving dish to keep warm.

Return broccoli water to boil. Stir in pasta and cook until al dente. Drain well and add to serving dish with broccoli. Drizzle with olive oil and toss. Season to taste with salt and coarsely ground pepper. Serve with Parmesan cheese. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Each serving contains about:

455 calories; 133 mg sodium; 1 mg cholesterol; 29 grams fat; 41 grams carbohydrates; 11 grams protein; 2 grams fiber; 57% calories from fat.

You’ll notice that in this salad the olive oil and lemon juice are not combined beforehand as in a conventional dressing. By squeezing the lemon over the broccoli right before eating it, not only do you maintain the bright color of the broccoli, you also maintain its vibrant flavor. And you experience all the flavors--olive oil, lemon, salt, broccoli, mozzarella--separately and distinctly.

Variations on this dish include sprinkling the mozzarella with crushed dried red chile pepper. In summer, add slices of tomato and a sprinkling of fresh basil.

BROCCOLI AND FRESH MOZZARELLA SALAD

4 or 5 stalks broccoli

Sea salt

2 slices fresh mozzarella cheese, drained

Extra-virgin olive oil

Oil-cured black olives

Lemon wedge

Place broccoli in saute pan large enough to contain broccoli in 1 layer. If stalks are very young, larger stalks must be cut in half or in quarters lengthwise. Add 1 cup water and season to taste with sea salt. Cover and cook over medium-high heat until broccoli is tender. Make sure broccoli does not burn. There should be very little water left in pan when broccoli is cooked. Drain in colander, if necessary.

Place broccoli on 1 side of dinner plate and arrange mozzarella slices next to broccoli. Season broccoli to taste with salt. Add mozzarella and drizzle with olive oil. Garnish with olives and lemon wedge. Makes 1 serving.

Each serving contains about:

560 calories; 1,071 mg sodium; 44 mg cholesterol; 28 grams fat; 38 grams carbohydrates; 32 grams protein; 8 grams fiber; 45% calories from fat.

Here is my family’s recipe for broccoli soup served with a braised broccoli chaser . At home, these dishes would almost invariably be accompanied by simple roasted chicken or fish and a salad tossed with oil and red wine vinegar.

The soup has a very pure and elemental quality--the essence of rustic cooking. For added tang, you can serve it sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese, but you sacrifice some of the sweet vegetable flavor of the broth.

PASTA-AND-BROCCOLI SOUP

2 pounds tender broccoli

2 1/2 quarts water

Salt

1/4 pound imported spaghetti, broken into short lengths

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 to 5 cloves garlic, chopped

Freshly ground pepper

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, optional

Lemon wedges

Trim tough ends of broccoli and peel stalks. Depending on thickness of broccoli, cut stalks in half or in quarters lengthwise. Bring water to boil. Add salt. Plunge broccoli into water and cook, uncovered, until broccoli is very tender, about 10 minutes.

Remove broccoli from water with strainer or slotted spoon, allowing excess moisture to drain back into pan. Coarsely chop broccoli. Place half of broccoli back in pan of boiling water and reserve other half. When water returns to boil, stir in spaghetti. Cook uncovered until pasta is al dente.

Meanwhile, combine 2 tablespoons olive oil and half of garlic in medium saute pan. Heat few minutes. Add remaining broccoli, 1 cup water and season to taste with salt. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally with wooden spoon, until water evaporates. While broccoli cooks, gently mash until very coarse puree. Transfer to serving dish.

Few minutes before soup is ready, place remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil and remaining garlic in small saute pan. Warm over low heat few minutes. When pasta is al dente, turn heat off and stir olive oil and garlic into soup. Season to taste with salt and coarsely ground pepper. Cover and let rest few moments before serving. Serve soup, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, then follow with braised broccoli garnished with lemon wedges. Makes 6 servings.

Each serving contains about:

171 calories; 138 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 12 grams fat; 14 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; 1.7 grams fiber; 63% calories from fat.