I often wonder if I should share such easy recipes. Everybody knows how to sauté vegetables right? I didn’t until I was in my early twenties.
While my mother did serve fresh salads with dinner, she usually just heated canned vegetables. So I was under the impression that I wasn’t very fond of vegetables. The truth is that I had not tasted a lot of vegetables except from a can and I didn’t like canned vegetables.
I didn’t taste fresh spinach until I was a teenager and my mother still tells the story of how I went on and on about how delicious raw spinach tasted. After that I went through a period where I tasted all of the vegetables I thought I didn’t like raw and discovered that many were quite tasty. It was the mushiness and staleness that I didn’t enjoy. However, there were a few veggies I didn’t enjoy raw or canned and broccoli was one of them.
The first time my husband took me home to meet his parents, his mother served broccoli for dinner. Even worse, she served plates from the stove so as not to create more dirty dishes by serving it family style. So I had no control over how much she put on my plate. I remember the sheer panic I felt as I looked at the mountain of broccoli on my plate. There was no escape, no pet dog, and the napkins were cloth so I couldn’t toss any of it. I developed a game plan. I would take a bite of broccoli and then quickly take a bite of steak or baked potato to dilute the taste. I took my first bite of broccoli and it wasn’t horrible. I diverged from my plan and took another bite of broccoli. It wasn’t mushy, but it wasn’t like eating a bush either. I could taste the broccoli, but it was subdued. I took another bite of broccoli and decided that, to my surprise, I actually liked it.
While I began to enjoy vegetables several years before, I credit that dinner for making me realize that any vegetable can be made palatable under the right conditions.
- 8 cups broccoli florets
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1½ teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon celery seed
- ¼ teaspoon coarse ground pepper
- pinch of salt
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet.
- Add broccoli and toss to coat with oil.
- Sprinkle spices over the broccoli and toss.
- Cook over medium-high heat until just fork tender, approximately 7 – 8 minutes.
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Swathi says
I used saute them with onions and some spice powder. I think mom started giving me spinach before i start walking.
Anne @ Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy says
My MIL serves food the same way for family meals. She'll do family style when she has guests, though. I've never thought of sauteeing the broccoli; I usually steam it. This sounds just as fast and yummy!
Annie Jones says
I always liked broccoli, although my mom tended to over-cook it. I don't mind it raw, but I prefer it cooked a little. Same with cauliflower.
Like you, I didn't have fresh spinach until my teens or early 20s. I won't eat canned corn, but I like peas in any form…canned, fresh or frozen.
Now green beans I still prefer canned and cooked to death. I know they aren't much good at that point, but it's still how I like them best. :/