Brilliant Broccoli
in Blogs

If you’re anything like me, you know you need to have those dark green friendly florets on your plate regularly to remain healthy, and especially to assist you with detoxification and elimination. I had my genes tested a while back and my detox panel came back as appalling, so Ian, who was at the time my nutritional therapist, suggested I load in those cruciferous vegetables every night. That was five years ago. Now I’m superbly tired of broccoli, so I’ve done a little research to try and spruce up these green trees on my plate and therefore continue aiding my detox pathways, while nourishing my health, without saying goodbye to broccoli.

So the way we normally eat it at home is to lightly steam it and drench it in olive oil and season with Himalayan salt and organic pepper. However, last night I realised I was eating my broccoli with long teeth, so I needed to take action, which I have now done...

  1. To juzz up the above recipe, lightly steam the broccoli and then drench it in raw farm butter, a good squeeze of lemon juice and sprinkle with sliced, toasted almonds. This is just delicious if you're in a rush and need to just get dinner done.
  2. You could also make a raw broccoli salad on occasion - but be careful because too much raw broccoli is not particularly good for your thyroid. Therefore, what you can do is to toss the raw broccoli in some apple cider vinegar and Himalayan salt. Fry up some garlic and cumin together in coconut oil, add this to the mix and then add some organic ground black pepper and cold pressed sesame oil. Toss this well with the raw broccoli and let it marinate for a few hours. The acid and oil partly cook the broccoli, but still keep it super crunchy. Squeeze some lemon juice over it for extra tartness if you like.
  3. Another way to enjoy your broccoli is to gently roast it. Fortunately this doesn’t take an hour or more like regular roasted veggies; you can get it done in 20 minutes. Cut the florets into bit size portions, toss with olive oil, minced garlic and a good quality salt and pepper. Lay out on a baking sheet in a single layer. Roast for a total of 15 minutes, turning them half way through. Remove from the oven when slightly brown, but crisp. Grate the zest of a lemon and the remaining juice over the broccoli. Add some more olive oil, a generous sprinkle of toasted pine nuts and some parmesan cheese. Oh my, a little piece of heaven…
  4. Or how about smuggling broccoli into a dip? Blend some lightly steamed broccoli with some raw organic sour cream and some grated organic parmesan and you can dip your carrots and cauliflower into this as part of your dinner. Dipping broccoli into a homemade hummus is also extremely tasty.
  5. For a more warming idea, turn broccoli into a soup by sautéing some onions and then adding the broccoli and enough grass-fed chicken stock to cover the broccoli and cook until tender. Blend it well and season to taste. And if you feel like being fancy, add a good glug of organic raw cream - super nutritious!
    There is even a broccoli frittata you could do. Fry up some onions and garlic, add some lightly steamed broccoli, add eggs that have been beaten to cover it all. Bake until puffed and set and enjoy some of your favourite cheese melting over it before consuming… oh yummy!
  6. If you are still tired of seeing those little green trees, you can blend them up and create a delicious pesto. Blend some cooled steamed broccoli with garlic, toasted pine nuts, grated parmesan and some olive oil. Toss over your favourite pasta, baked potato or smear over an oat cake.

Now that I have spent a little time stewing over broccoli, I realise there are so many other ways to include it into your meals. In fact, you can have broccoli any time of the day! A frittata for breakfast, a cool broccoli salad filled with feta, tomatoes, chickpeas, olive oil and vinegar can refresh you on a sweltering summer’s day lunch. A warm broccoli soup for dinner. A pesto or dip for snacks. I never realised broccoli was so versatile until I put a little thought into it! Perhaps we should put this kind of thinking into all the foods we eat - we would be creative wizards and properly nourished….