M*A*S*H – Sesame Broccoli Stems
With three young boys each separated by roughly two years, my parents always gave us chores to do. There were weekend duties, cleaning specific rooms of the house, for example, and those we did on a daily basis. Daily responsibilities primarily revolved around dinner; setting the table, clearing after dinner, and doing dishes. The jobs rotated among us.
Setting the table was easiest because, well, it wasn’t really setting the table. It was more like plopping a pile of plates and silverware on the table for everyone to grab when we sat down at mealtime.
Clearing took a little more effort. You had to gather individual plates, scrape waste, put away leftovers, if there were any, and maybe even wipe counters and sweep. Definitely more involved.
Doing dishes was by far the most arduous task. We had a dishwasher however we never used it. We were told it didn’t work – truthfully or not, I was never sure – and I vaguely recall after getting new cabinets that the dishwasher door wouldn’t even open all the way. So, we filled one sink with soapy water to soak and scrub and then rinsed them clean under running water in the neighboring sink before placing them on a dishrack to dry. It was a slow process.
As the youngest, I found it incredibly unfair. When my parents first initiated chores for their boys, I had to start at the same time as my brothers, despite their advanced ages. In addition, I would be in the house for two and four years longer after they went off to college. Not only that, but as they would no longer be there to complete their jobs, I would have to fill the void. The inequity was unjust.
To make things easier we watched TV while we were doing dishes. This was a big deal for us. The television was rarely on in our house, yet while doing dishes we were allowed to indulge.
We had a small TV, black and white only, that we could move to the kitchen table for viewing while we scrubbed after the nightly meal. And because dinner usually ended around 7:30 pm, the best shows on at that time were reruns. We became obsessed with reruns of M*A*S*H. In the 1970s and 80s we didn’t have cable TV, so there were considerably fewer choices. Maybe seven or eight options in total, we turned the knob to hone in on UHF channels since reruns weren’t shown on standard national VHF networks nor on public TV.
So M*A*S*H it was, night after night. It got to the point that dinner was timed to end with our TV ritual and even if you set or cleared the table you watched while the third brother did dishes. There was no rewind or DVR or even VHS tapes from which to watch at a time of our choosing. When it was time, you had to be ready, even if it meant lousy reception and adjusting the antennas by hand.
We came to know the stories, the characters, and the series arc, even if we viewed the episodes in the completely random order that they were broadcast. And ultimately the television show led me to watch Robert Altman’s 1970 movie and even read the book by Richard Hooker that started it all.
At some point our nightly viewing dribbled off to nothing. Perhaps we saw every episode there was to see or we sped through dishes to move on to other more important activities as we grew older. The end result was that M*A*S*H was a notable part of my youth. I view relatively little TV now. But if I’m flipping through channels and M*A*S*H pops up on the screen, I watch – at least until the next commercial. And since I’ve seen every episode, more than once, I can easily pick up where in the story it is.
Sesame Broccoli Stems
Back in the days when my brothers and I watched M*A*S*H while we did dishes, they did not sell broccoli crowns in supermarkets. When you bought broccoli, the thick stems were always attached. Most people in my family preferred the florets, which left the dilemma of what to do with the stems.
My father, never one to waste food, always peeled the stems, sliced them into coins, and sprinkled them with a bit of salt and sesame oil. It was a modest nibble that only he enjoyed as he prepared the rest of dinner.
The recipe, from the classic cookbook The Key to Chinese Cooking by Irene Kuo, is very simple and makes for a tasty appetizer or snack. The stems soften a little as they sit, the result of salt dehydrating the cells, although they still stay crunchy. They are delicious as they are but would also be good with half sesame and half chili oil or chili crisp in place of sesame oil. A sprinkling of sesame seeds wouldn’t be out of place as well.
5 minutes, plus up to 1 hour resting time, serves 2
1 cup sliced broccoli stems from about 2 heads of broccoli
½ tsp. kosher salt
1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
sesame seeds for garnish, optional
- Peel the tough outer skin of the broccoli stems with a paring knife. Slice stems into roughly ⅛-inch thick coins or on a diagonal.
- Place them in a bowl and sprinkle on the salt and stir to combine. Set aside for about 1 hour in the refrigerator.
- When ready to eat, add sesame oil (or chili oil, chili crisp, and sesame seeds) and stir to coat.
