Friday, November 03, 2006

New favorite vegetable.

Romanesco broccoli.



First of all, I love how its shaped with all these pointy little turrets. Such a cheeky little plant! Its flavor is a lot more subtle than regular broccoli, and it doesn't smell horrible when you cook it. It also seems to be a lot less fibrous. That's three wins in my book.

I cut off the florets and chopped up the stalks of a small head and tossed them in the steamer. After about 6 or 7 minutes, they had a nice crunch and the color had blossomed to a lovely lime green. I tossed the broccoli with a small pat of butter, some lemon zest and juice, and salt. After a few bites I wondered how they would taste with a sprinkle of toasted pumpkin seeds. Delicious!

Got to get back to dinner now, I'm working on a big pot of stew with chicken sausage, kale, buttercup squash and white beans. Will report back on that later.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is this a naturally occurring plant, or some sort of hybrid creation?

Siobhan said...

Seriously, that thing is freaky looking:)

Anonymous said...

Chefty. Seriously. Your favorite veggie is scaring me. How do you eat it? WHAT DO YOU DO? If you turn your back does it come to life and stab you?

Chefty said...

It'a a variant of cauliflower that is naturally occurring. I've seen the broccoli-cauliflower hybrid in the store before (brocciflower?) but I've never tried it. Romanesco is nutty in taste like cauliflower. I think I'm going to try it next roasted. MMM. That is, if it doesn't attack me first.

Maria said...

It reminds me of something out of "Little Shop of Horrors"!