Vietnamese Beef and Broccoli Recipe (Thit Bo Xao)

This is a quick beef stir fry recipe accompanied with broccoli florets and carrots. The sauce consists of sherry wine vinegar, palm sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce and a bit of corn starch as the thickening agent.

I served the beef dish with steamed jasmine rice. It's that simple. Why order out?

Roasted Broccolini Recipe

Wintry leafy greens are available everywhere now. I particularly like broccolini. The long-stemmed broccoli look-alike is rather delicate with hints of bitterness. You could sauté, steam or simply boil this vegetable, but I prefer roasting it. In general, roasting vegetables enhances the natural sweet notes of the greens and turn the thin stalks almost as sweet and tender as asparagus.

The preparation is fairly simple. Toss broccolini in garlic, olive oil and a bit of Parmesan cheese for a touch of saltiness. The vegetables go into the oven until the stems are tender and the leaves are nice and crisp.

Broccoli Puree (Mashed Broccoli)

Mashed potatoes are my guilty pleasure. I've flavored them in the past with garlic, pesto, plaintains, olives and purple sweet potatoes, just to name a few. This time, I used broccoli. It complements the flavor and gives a beautiful color to the purée.

My favorite way to make this dish is to simply mash them using a potato masher, then add milk, cream and lots of butter. It might not be the healthiest approach, but it's certainly the most delicious for creamy mashed potatoes! 

Vegetable Honey Tofu Stir-Fry Recipe

While in Paris, my mother taught me a new trick for enhancing the flavor of vegetarian meals. She uses honey to caramelize tofu, then deglazes the dish with Maggi (or soy sauce). My parents aren't vegetarian but my mother used to cook a lot of vegetarian dishes for my grandparents who were. My husband Lulu was pleased to eat at my mom's because he got to discover new tofu dishes using these techniques. For this particular recipe, Mom and I sautéed some broccoli and bok choy along with tofu. Delicious!

Since I had to find the best honey available for this dish, it gave me another excuse to explore more Parisian open air markets. I found this wonderful creamy honey from a beekeeper who had come from the south of France to sell his wares. He was very passionate about his products. Lulu and I sampled several kinds, which were all fabulous. We got an absolutely delicious education in honey and brought many jars back with us.

Cream of Broccoli Cheese Soup

I made cream of broccoli soup (velouté de brocolis in French) as a cure for two of my girls’ aversion to broccoli. Much of the flavor of the broccoli is concealed by gooey cheese (I used French Chaumes cheese) and a drizzle of heavy cream for richness.

To make the soup, broccoli is first boiled and then blended with vegetable broth. To thicken the mixture, I made a roux, which is a combination of flour, butter and liquid. The result is a beautiful, bright green soup.

I let the kids dip bread into the soup, and they loved it! Now that broccoli doesn’t seem so awful to them, I can try and introduce it in other dishes. And of course, I’ll share them with you so you can trick your kids (big or small) into enjoying broccoli as well!