If, for whatever reason, you don’t cook them along with the florets, put them to another use.

 
For the tenderest results, you can use a vegetable peeler to remove the outer layer of supermarket broccoli stems before cooking; they tend to be tougher than just-harvested greenmarket broccoli. Then, you can cook them as you like or keep shaving the raw stems for a salad ingredient.

In the recipe that follows, the raw stems are sliced into thin circles and turned into their own salad: broccoli stem salad! Who needs lettuce?

This recipe is by Kate Galassi for Quinciple, a delivery service that brings the week’s best fruits and vegetables to your door.
 
 
RECIPE: BROCCOLI STEM SALAD

Ingredients For 2 Servings

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*A little bit of oregano and thyme go a long way, so don’t use too much in your blend.

[2] The little green “trees” with robust stalks and branches got their name from the Latin word “bracchium,” which means strong arm or branch (photo © Burpee).

1. SHAVE the stems into paper-thin slices with a mandoline. If you don’t have one, use a very sharp chef’s knife to slice the stems as thinly as you can.

2. WHISK together the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and chili flakes, and toss with the sliced broccoli stems. Season with salt and pepper and let sit for fifteen minutes. Meanwhile…

3. PICK the herb leaves off their stems. Small leaves, including parsley, can stay whole. Larger leaves of basil and mint should be torn into smaller pieces. Or, chop them all if you like, with a mezzaluna or other tool.

4. DIVIDE the broccoli salad between two plates and garnish with the fresh herbs.
 
 
THE CRUCIFEROUS VEGETABLES FAMILY

Broccoli is a cruciferous vegetable, a member of the Brassicaceae family of cancer-fighting superfoods.

“Cruciferous” derives from cruciferae, New Latin for “cross-bearing.” The flowers of these vegetables consist of four petals in the shape of a cross.

The family includes arugula, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, mizuna, mustard greens, radish, rapeseed/canola, rapini (broccoli rabe), rutabaga, tatsoi and turnips.

They’re low in calories and high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. You can’t eat too many of them, but you can overcook them. You’ll know they’re overcooked when an unpleasant sulfur aroma appears. They’ll also fade in color.

That’s because all cruciferous vegetables contain chemical compounds that, when exposed to heat for a sufficient amount of time, produce hydrogen sulfide.

So, enjoy them on the al dente side.
 
 

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We really appreciate mushrooms. They’re what we call a “bonus” food: extremely low in calories and a versatile ingredient in cooked foods from omelets to rice pilaf to meat loaf to sauces.

They’re also delicious raw. Our marinated mushroom salad is very popular (recipe below) and we typically serve mushrooms with other crudités and dip. But we were newly inspired by this mushroom carpaccio from Qunciple.com (a produce delivery service like a CSA, but representing the best of many farmers).

A beautiful presentation, you can make a large platter for a buffet or to pass at the table, or prepare individual plates.

RECIPE: MUSHROOM CARPACCIO

Ingredients For 2 Servings

Preparation

Ideally use a mandolin, which makes uniform slices and can cut them as thin as possible.

If you don’t yet have a mandoline, it’s a good excuse to get one. They don’t take up much room, and if you cook regularly, you’ll appreciate the convenience it provides in slicing fruits and vegetables, including crinkle and waffle cuts; as well as cheese and chips. You want one that’s slip-free, has multiple attachments (to make different shapes), and the indispensible hand guard. This mandoline has it all.

1. HOLD each mushroom by the stem and use the mandoline to cut very thin slices off the top of the mushroom cap. Stop before you reach the stem. Remove the stems (they will still have some of the cap attached); you can add them to grains, omelets, sauces, soups or stocks.

USING A KNIFE: If you don’t have a mandolin use a large, sharp knife. Lay each cap flat on a cutting board and trim one edge, slicing off 1/8″ or so. Turn the cap on its edge so that the cut side is flush against the board and the mushroom is steady on the board. Slice the mushrooms as thinly as you can.

2. ARRANGE the mushrooms on one or two plates in overlapping concentric circles (start at the outside and work your way to the center). Season with salt and pepper. Just before serving, finish the plate(s) with a generous squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with fresh herbs and serve.
 

Top: Marinated mushrooms in a lettuce cup;
photo courtesy Taste Of Home. Bottom:
Marinated mushrooms with a side of dressed
greens. Photo courtesy A Shifted Perspective.

RECIPE: RAW MUSHROOM SALAD

This recipe is so flexible, you can add whatever you like: baby corn, capers, fennel, etc. You can also use other than white mushrooms, and it’s even more interesting with an assortment of mushrooms. Check out the options in our Mushroom Glossary.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. CLEAN the mushrooms and pat dry. Place in a colander over a bowl and sprinkle with the sea salt. Toss to coat thoroughly. Let stand for about 30 minutes so the salt can remove excess water from the mushrooms. Brush any remaining salt from the mushrooms with a mushroom brush or a paper towel.

3. COVER the bowl refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to blend (we often let it sit overnight). Taste and adjust the seasonings.

4. SERVE as desired. We enjoy marinated mushrooms as a salad course, along with dressed greens.

Overnight oats are trending. According to Pinterest, there were 5 million overnight oats pins in 2015, a whopping 211% increase over 2014.

If your goal is to eat a better breakfast and more whole grains, here’s how it can be ready for you to eat each morning. You can eat the oats at home or grab the jar on your way out the door. It’s that easy!

Check out the recipe below.
 
 
WHAT ARE OVERNIGHT OATS?

Overnight oats are a way of preparing oatmeal by soaking the oats overnight, instead of cooking them. Raw oats are soaked overnight in your choice of liquid: drinkable yogurt or kefir, milk or nondairy milk (almond milk is splendid), water, yogurt/water mix, or whatever.

The soaking turns oatmeal into a cold breakfast cereal, although you can certainly heat it.

You can use rolled oats, steel-cut oats, and even instant oatmeal; although given that the latter is ready in a minute in the microwave, we’d focus on the first two.

The mixture sits in a lidded jar overnight (or for at least 6 hours) as the oats absorb the liquid. When it’s time for breakfast the next morning, the oats are plumped up, soft, and ready to eat, cold or heated, plain or with the toppings of your choice.
 
 
RECIPE: OVERNIGHT OATS

There is no right or wrong ingredient or proportion: It’s how you like your oats. Here’s a guide for your first batch; you take it from here.

Ingredients For 1 Serving

 
Preparation

1. MIX the oats and liquid in the jar with the optional peanut butter. Tamp down with a rubber spatula or a spoon so that all the oats get moistened.

2. PLACE the jar in the refrigerator overnight. It’s ready to eat in the morning. If using peanut butter or other nut butter…

3. BLEND the peanut butter briefly before refrigerating, just enough so that you’ll have swirls of it the next day. (We whisked it briefly.) When you’re ready to eat…

4. ADD the sweetener, microwave if desired, and add your toppings of choice.

[1] One of our favorites: strawberry overnight oats. Here’s the recipe from A Pumpkin And A Princess.

[2] Chocolate overnight oats (photo © Ella Olsson | Unsplash).

[3] Blackberry overnight oats (photo © Micheile Dot Com | Unsplash)

Add Your Own Touches

You can customize the flavors with your favorite ingredients, by adding anything from nut butter to fruit purée to the jar. For example:

 
Don’t like sweet foods? Experiment with savory recipes, from caraway seeds to red chili flakes.

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For National Soup Month, here’s an easy recipe from Davio’s Boston, one of several locations in the excellent Davio’s Northern Italian Steak Houses in Atlanta, Manhattan, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and later this year in Los Angeles.

A side of goat cheese crostini turns the soup into a first course or a sophisticated “soup and sandwich” lunch.

RECIPE: HOMEMADE TOMATO SOUP

Ingredients For 6 To 8 Portions

______________________________
*While butter adds a nice flavor note, you can substitute oil if you’re avoiding cholesterol, want a vegan option, etc.

†You can buy the tomatoes crushed or whole. Steve buys them whole and hand crushes them.
 
Preparation

1. MELT the butter in a stock pot; add the onions and cook until translucent. Add the tomatoes and chicken stock. Simmer for 1 hour.

2. ADD the cubed bread and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside until cool. Purée until smooth with an immersion blender or in a regular blender or food processor. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

3. SERVE: Bring the soup to a simmer. Plate and garnish with the optional yogurt, then with the basil and parsley. Serve with the crostini.

Goat cheese crostini are delicious with soup
or a glass of wine. Photo courtesy Wines Of
Sicily.

RECIPE: GOAT CHEESE CROSTINI

Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
Preparation

1. TOAST the baguette slices.

2. BLEND together the goat cheese, dill and minced garlic. Spread evenly over the toasted baguette slices.

3. GARNISH with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and some lemon zest and fresh-ground black pepper.
 
DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BRUSCHETTA
AND CROSTINI?

In Scotland, January 25th is a national holiday that celebrates the birthday of the great romantic poet, Robert Burns (1759-1796). On Burns Night, family and friends gather for an evening of good food and company. A traditional Burns’ Supper is served.

This year, instead of cooking a traditional Burns Supper (smoked haddock, beef pie, haggis, colcannon, tatties), we’re taking the sweeter road:
 
 
BURDICK SCOTCH WHISKY CHOCOLATES

Available for only three weeks each year, this special box of chocolates blends Scotch whisky into every piece.

There are ganache-filled chocolates made with some of the finest whiskys, including Highland Park, Macallan, Springbank and Talisker. They are accompanied by Glenfarclas bonbons and Lagavulin and Whisky Honey truffles.

The chocolates are available now through January 28th. Get an extra box for Valentine’s Day, at BurdickChocolate.com.

 
 
OTHER WAYS TO CELEBRATE BURNS NIGHT

 
Here’s more about Burns Night.
 
 
WHISKY VS. WHISKEY

Whisky is the Scottish spelling of whiskey, a term that originated in Ireland. The alternative spelling was chosen to differentiate the Scots’ national product from Irish whiskey.

The “whisky” spelling is used in Canada, Japan and Wales, as well as Scotland.

In the U.S., a 1968 directive from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms specifies “whisky” as the official U.S. spelling. However, it allows the alternative spelling, “whiskey.”

Most U.S. producers prefer to include the “e,” as do we. Without it, it looks like something is missing.

[1] What a way to celebrate Burns Night: with Scotch whisky chocolate (photos #1 and #2 © L.A. Burdick Chocolate).

[2] You can pair the chocolates with glasses different Scotch whiskys.

[3] The poet himself: Scotland’s Robert Burns (photo Wikipedia).

Ironically, distillation was discovered in the 8th century in Persia—a country that has not permitted the sale and consumption of spirits since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Here’s a brief history of whiskey.
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*The mouse honors the famous Burns poem, To A Mouse.