Broccolicious

Continuing on the theme of food waste this evening. Last night when I was catching up on episode two of "Food & Drink" I was inspired by one of Tom Kerridges dishes. The subject was based on cooking luxury food on a budget but the dish also linked back to not wasting food. The element of the dish that was inspiring and cost saving are broccoli stalks. So say Sunday lunch is over, you've eaten all the broccoli florets and you're left with the stem. Don't chuck it in the bin, use it for Monday nights dinner:

• Cut the stem into quarters and trim down the ends/edges (removing any woody parts, as you would do with asparagus)
• Once prepared place into a pan of salted boiling water. Cook for about 5 minutes, until they're tender but with a bit of crunch
• Finally, drain and coat the stems in a tsp. of butter and some cracked black pepper

To be honest, I wasn't sure on how it would turn out but I'm delighted to say it's absolutely delicious & flavoursome ( far better than the florets themselves).
So why not have a go? Remember, you'll be reducing waste and saving pennies!

Other ideas to use up leftover stems: Sliced up and used in a stir fry or cut into chunks for soup. Maybe it will work with cauliflower stems too?