Learn how to cook perfect broccoli every time with this quick video. Broccoli tomato omelette easy guide shows you how to boil broccoli in minutes.

Fill a saucepan halfway with water and add a pinch of salt, this helps to soften the broccoli and keep the bright green colour. Bring to the boil over a medium heat. Cut one broccoli head into medium sized florets. A floret should look like a tiny tree. Trim each of the floret stems to make them shorter and more even and slice any large ones in half to make them more equal. This will mean they cook at the same rate.

Save the stalk of the broccoli, it’s great for stir-fries. Put the florets into a colander and rinse under a cold, running tap to remove any dirt. Then, gently tip into the pan of boiling water. Once tender, carefully pour the florets back into the cleaned colander over the sink to drain. Pan-fried gnocchi with broccoli pesto and grilled vegby Michel Roux Jr.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Do You Know the Benefits of Walking? Have at-Home Tests for the Flu?

Brassica Oleracea Italica Group, Brassica oleracea var. Brocoli, Brócoli, Broccoli Flower, Calabrese, Purple Sprouting Broccoli. Other varieties of Brassica oleracea include kale, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower. Chemicals in broccoli might help prevent cancer and have antioxidant effects. Also, when broccoli is eaten with a starch, it slows down how quickly sugar from the starch goes into the blood, which might benefit people with diabetes. People use broccoli for high cholesterol, fibromyalgia, preventing certain cancers, and many other purposes, but there is no good scientific evidence to support most of these uses.

Don’t confuse broccoli with broccoli sprout, or with chemicals found in broccoli, including ascorbigen and indole-3-carbinol. Eating broccoli and related vegetables might help prevent colorectal cancer. There is interest in using broccoli for a number of other purposes, but there isn’t enough reliable information to say whether it might be helpful. Warnings: Pregnancy and breast-feeding: Broccoli is commonly consumed in foods. There isn’t enough reliable information to know if broccoli is safe to use as medicine when pregnant or breast-feeding. Some medications are changed and broken down by the liver. Broccoli might change how quickly the liver breaks down these medications.

This could change the effects and side effects of these medications. As medicine, there isn’t enough reliable information to know what an appropriate dose of broccoli might be. Keep in mind that natural products are not always necessarily safe and dosages can be important. Breast cancer risk in premenopausal women is inversely associated with consumption of broccoli, a source of isothiocyanates, but is not modified by GST genotype. Bailey GS, Dashwood RH, Fong AT, et al. Modulation of mycotoxin and nitrosamine carcinogenesis by indole-3-carbinol: quantitative analysis of inhibition versus promotion.

Ballance S, Knutsen SH, Fosvold ØW, Wickham M, Trenado CD, Monro J. Glyceamic and insulinaemic response to mashed potato alone, or with broccoli, broccoli fibre or cellulose in healthy adults. Barcelo S, Mace K, Pfeifer AM, Chipman JK. Production of DNA strand breaks by N-nitrosodimethylamine and 2-amino-3-methylimidazoquinoline in THLE cells expressing human CYP isoenzymes and inhibition by sulforaphane. Bell MC, Crowley-Nowick P, Bradlow HL, et al. Placebo-controlled trial of indole-3-carbinol in the treatment of CIN.

Bradlow HL, Michnovicz J, Telang NT, Osborne MP. Effects of dietary indole-3-carbinol on estradiol metabolism and spontaneous mammary tumors in mice. Bradlow HL, Sepkovic DW, Telang NT, Osborne MP. Multifunctional aspects of the action of indole-3-carbinol as an antitumor agent.

The use of ascorbigen in the treatment of fibromyalgia patients: a preliminary trial. Potent induction of carcinogen defense enzymes with sulforaphane, a putative prostate cancer chemopreventive agent. Chakrabarti A, Prais L, Foulds IS. Chiao JW, Chung FL, Kancherla R, et al. Sulforaphane and its metabolite mediate growth arrest and apoptosis in human prostate cancer cells.

Chu YF, Sun J, Wu X, Liu RH. Antioxidant and antiproliferative activities of common vegetables. Conaway CC, Getahun SM, Liebes LL, et al. Disposition of glucosinolates and sulforaphane in humans after ingestion of steamed and fresh broccoli. Indole-3-carbinol: anticarcinogen or tumor promoter in brassica vegetables? Ekiz F, Yuksel I, Kertmen N, Yuksel O.