My Husband is a Broccoli Prima Donna

Keeping broccoli and cauliflower interesting makes my effort to cook for my family a lot easier. Both vegetables are easy to work with, they steam quickly and are versatile enough to be served in completely different genres of cooking, together or separate. Above is a cauliflower dish, simply caramelized onions, chick peas, whole cumin seeds, a dash of coriander, powdered cumin and sea salt. This was incredibly easy to make as a last minute dinner for a late school day. Cauliflower has origins in Asia Minor, became popular in Turkey and Italy around 600 BC and gained popularity in most of Europe by the mid 16th century. So, it has been around in many different cultures and served in many complex interesting recipes, but it is also great plain.

Cauliflower has a days worth of vitamin C, lots of folate, fiber, B6, B5, tryptophan and manganese as well as some omega-3 fatty acids. So, it really is a nutrient dense food despite lacking the green coloring of its other cruciferous relatives.

So, how does broccoli compare? Broccoli has double the vitamin C of cauliflower, a lot of vitamin A, and then is similar to cauliflower in folate, fiber, manganese,tryptophan and a variety of Bs. Its roots are Italian and the older varieties are interesting compared to our typical US variety found in large grocery chains.

Both vegetables have a lot of cancer prevention power and well researched positive effects on cardiovascular health, the immune system and they both aid detoxification of the liver. In the cancer arena, both are especially noteworthy in fighting prostate cancer.

My husband is a broccoli prima donna. He loves broccoli but will not eat it leftover, or so he thinks. It can be re-steamed and look as good as new so I can fool the best of them if need be. To make beautiful steamed broccoli more palatable the next day, create anything from a soup to a stir-fry. Using precooked broccoli in a stir-fry allows other smaller vegetables to cook for a shorter time which works out well. Special varieties like broccolini and broccoli raab spice things up a bit as well.

And, why does this duo stink up the kitchen while you cook? Sulfur compounds are released during steaming but do not affect the flavor of the finished product. Microwaving results in a loss of significantly more flavonoids and other antioxidants so steaming is preferred. So, team up these two and have a contest. You might be surprised by who joins the green team and who wants the white...