Broccoli is one of those vegetables that I never really loved, as the typical method of boiling them always made them taste bland, but for the past few months, I’ve been roasting my broccoli, and it’s made them taste great. However, when it comes to cauliflower, I’ve never tried any other method of cooking it than boiling. Mary Berry claimed that the key to cooking these two vegetables is to stir-fry them with olive oil.
In her recipe-filled Mary Berry Everyday cookbook, she said: “Making a change from boiled vegetables, this is quick to do and very tasty. Cooked like this, the broccoli and cauliflower retain a nice crunch too.” Boiling broccoli and cauliflower strips them of their natural flavour as it leaches their taste into the water, leaving them bland or even bitter. It also makes the vegetables soggy and less nutritious, as many of their vitamins are leached into the water during boiling.
However, stir-frying broccoli and cauliflower on a high heat helps caramelise their natural sugars, giving them a much nicer nutty or savoury flavour.
I found that changing the way I cooked cauliflower this time around made it crispier, more flavourful, and even healthier, as stir-frying helps preserve more nutrients.
I even preferred this way of cooking broccoli that roasting it in the oven with lemon juice, garlic and parmesan cheese.
Ingredients
Half a head of broccoliHalf a head of cauliflowerOne onion, finely slicedTwo garlic cloves, crushedOne tablespoon of runny honeySalt and pepper
Method
To begin, I started by cutting the cauliflower and broccoli into as small florets as possible and removing any leaves or stems.
I chopped the onions and crushed the garlic cloves before I started cooking.
Next, I heated the oil in a large pan and waited until it got very hot. Then, I added the onions and cooked them for two to three minutes on high heat.
I then added the broccoli, cauliflower and garlic, then stir-fried for two to three minutes until they started to go golden. I found that you may need to add more oil to the pan as the vegetables can quickly burn.
I covered the pan with a lid, lowered the heat and cooked for 15 more minutes, despite Mary Berry only recommending three minutes, as they were still pretty hard.
Then, I removed the lid and fried the vegetables for a few minutes until they softened slightly but were still crunchy.
For the final touch, I drizzled the vegetables in honey, seasoned them with salt and pepper and gave them all a mix before serving.
