This week’s topics include a discussion of my childhood issues with veggies, a fabulous way to make broccoli (the WF and broccoli?!), a good day for the WF and Thing 1, a blast from my childhood (hint – the General Lee), and the WF is getting schooled!
The Wannabe Foodie and Veggies. So, I admit that I’m not the biggest veggie eater. I eat enough to have a diversified diet and I’m always trying to eat more. However, I never think “Wow. I’d love a plate of veggies.”
I think that the core of my issues with veggies comes from spending a fair amount of my childhood in Mississippi. I don’t know what it is with traditional Southern cooks and veggies. They seem to think that only way to cook veggies is to cook them into mushy oblivion. Most veggies taste horrible when they’re overcooked. Example – lightly sautéed green beans are crisp and taste sweet. Overcooked green beans have a nausea-inducing texture and an overpowering bitterness.
I have many fond memories of Southern cooking. Fresh veggies are not one of them.
As a young adult, I associated all veggies with the nasty flavors of my childhood. Going to college in California, I was introduced to vegetables which were only slightly cooked so that there’s still some crunch and which didn’t taste bitter due to overcooking. As it turns out, I like some of the vegetables that I hated them as a kid. Shocking.
I admit that I’m still not the biggest vegetable eater on the planet, but I’m getting better.
The Best Method to Cook Broccoli. Ironically, one of the vegetables I really like is broccoli, if it’s cooked well.
Recently, my friend T suggested I try his favorite method, which is as basic as basic gets and now my favorite way to prepare broccoli.
Toss the florets in olive oil, some kosher salt, and some whole or ½ cloves of garlic (the more the merrier). You want big chunks of garlic. Put it in a baking dish and cover it with aluminum foil. Bake at about 350 for 10-12 minutes. Uncover it and cook for another 10 minutes or so, depending upon how well cooked you like your broccoli. I like mine with a lot of crunch, so I don’t cook it more than 20-25 minutes total.
The garlic permeates the broccoli and the roasting without the aluminum foil puts a little browning on the broccoli. Absolutely fabulous. Try it and I promise you won’t be disappointed.
A Good Day for the WF. On a recent Sunday, I started cooking at about 11 and stopped about 6:30 or so. I wasn’t cooking the entire time, but certainly most of it. And watching football, of course. That’s a very important part of cooking on a Sunday!
Here’s what I prepared.
A double batch of my barbeque sauce. Doesn’t sound like much, but my sauce is a pain in the butt to make. Lots of ingredients and it needs to be cooked. I always double the batch when I make it and freeze most of it.
2 racks of spare ribs and 2 racks of baby back ribs.
2 gallons of brine for my smoked chicken.
I prepped 4 chickens and started brining them. Saved the nasty bits for the stock I’m going to make with the smoked chicken carcasses. Made 3 gallons of stock the following day.
A salad with butter lettuce, baby yellow, red, and orange bell peppers, carrots, and some balsamic vinaigrette.
3 heads of roasted garlic with rosemary, which I turned into a spread with olive oil, a little dried rosemary, salt, and pepper. I put the spread onto some fresh sour dough bread, which I browned under the broiler.
Corn on the cob tossed in butter, salt, and fresh lime zest.
Lots of dishes and clean up, but a great day for the WF. 7 hours of cooking and prepping, and a fair amount of it with Thing 1, who’s recently showing a strong interest in cooking.
Not a bad day at all.
A Preview of Upcoming Blogs – the WF Gets Schooled. As some of you may recall, I recently had a big birthday and the Red bought me a 5 day culinary boot camp at the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, CA. 5 days of cooking and instruction from 7 a.m. until 2 or so in the afternoon.
5 days of real cooking school. Can’t wait.
I suppose I’ll probably blog about it……..
Random Travel Note. So, the night before my cooking class, I’m at a hotel in St. Helena, CA with the Red. We’re walking through the parking lot, and I can’t help but notice… the General Lee parked right in front of me!
The General Lee, as in the car from the Dukes of Hazzard. Perfect replica of the car.
I started chatting with the guy who owns it and he proceeds to tell me that it is indeed for sale for the right price. Plus, he’s got a couple more of the same, plus 5 Knight Rider cars, and a Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am.
How does a man convince his wife that he needs those toys?! If you know, please let me know. I’d be happy to just have a Dukes of Hazzard lunchbox. To have the General Lee parked in the garage, alongside KITT and the Bandit’s Trans Am? I would walk into my garage and giggle every morning.
I wonder if he has the Delorean from Back to the Future.....?
No. I didn’t buy the car, though I wanted to. “Honey – why don’t you go back to room? I’m just going to chat a while with this nice gentleman…. Of course I wouldn’t buy something like this without discussing it with you!”
Happy cooking.
WF
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