From Garden to Table in 10 Minutes

As you know, Husband has been watching his garden grow. What you may not know is the Husband is the main cook in our family. He's very passionate about cooking. I learnt many years ago that he wasn't trying to come in and take over when I was cooking dinner but that he genuinely wanted to take over because he enjoyed it so much. That was when I handed over kitchen duties to him. It works well for us; he loves cooking, I hate it.

Over the last several weeks he's been tracking the progress of his broccoli. I say his because he's taken ownership of it. Finally, on Saturday, he cut off a stalk. He brought it in, washed it, steamed it, prepared a butter, lemon and mustard sauce and we had it with sauteed chicken over couscous for lunch. The whole process from garden to table took about 10 minutes.

Maybe it was our imaginations but we were convinced it was jam packed with flavour. It tasted great. The broccoli was barely steamed so it still had a slight crunch to it. Whether it really tasted better we can't be sure but it was just so fresh. It was a wonderful feeling to be sitting and eating something so fresh, organically grown in our own garden.

I'm planning to put another stalk into a Fried Rice this evening. (Due to circumstances beyond my control I'm forced to make dinner.) While I'm at it, I'm going to cut another one which also looks ready and blanch and freeze it. I know it will lose some of its impact but I don't want the snails to munch on it while we're waiting to eat it.

Cheers.