This spring we got early broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage plants for our participants, after handing out all the plants, we had lots of extra broccoli, and so it went into our garden at the Settlement School. I have honestly never had fresh broccoli before this spring. It never seemed like something suitable for a new gardener to grow and it’s usually not something that other gardeners try to off load onto others like they do with the seasonal zucchini bounty. I don’t remember having it in our CSA share growing up, and it was never a favorite vegetable of mine that I sought out. But this spring with broccoli plants thriving in our garden I have been very excited about the prospect of fresh homegrown broccoli. I also learned that broccoli is really not too hard to grow (or maybe it was just a lucky year), whatever the reasons may be we’ve had lots of beautiful fresh broccoli in the garden for the past few weeks!
If your garden is progressing like ours, you are probably coming to the end of the broccoli harvest and thinking about pulling up the plants to make room for something new in the garden. But now what to do with all your fresh broccoli? It is definitely worth looking outside the box to try recipes other than your standard steamed broccoli or raw florets with dip. I love roasting broccoli, making it into pesto and, and adding it to just about anything I can! Here are several recipes to make the best use of your broccoli abundance.
Here is a short and sweet article about broccoli and its health benefits with links to many delicious looking recipes, and one great tip: please, please, please don’t overcook your broccoli “broccoli requires only 4 to 5 minutes of steaming, or 2 1/2 minutes of blanching in salted boiling water”. Soggy broccoli is never fun.
Double Broccoli Quinoa * this recipe is my absolute favorite and has been a big hit with anyone that I’ve made it for!
Do you have any great broccoli recipes? Leave a comment and share them; we can always use more ideas!
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