Broccoli
"Nothing heals the soul like chocolate ... It's God's apology for broccoli." Richard Paul Evans
I don't really like broccoli much but I can't resist buying it. It's so pretty and it's often such a bargain price. I always think I am going to find the perfect thing to do with it but I'm not sure I have yet. Well Beverley Sutherland=Smith's version of the Italian orecchiette with broccoli comes close, (recipe given before), but mostly it just ends up soggy with a not really nice taste and little soft seedy bits - almost gritty. Suffice to say I don't like the texture either And I am, of course, famously not alone in this. We all know what George Bush snr said:
"I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli."
He caused the Californian broccoli growers to blockade the White House they were so angry. He's not the only one though - I found plenty of other people who didn't like it as the quote at the top of the page illustrates. Not that I'm a massive fan of chocolate. And Maggie Beer does not mention it at all in her Seasons cookbook so maybe she doesn't like it either.
In fact in England and other English speaking countries I do not think it has been around for that long - well it has - there are mentions of it back in the 18th century, but in terms of ordinary food for ordinary people, not so much. I certainly don't remember it when I was a child.
So I thought I would investigate it yet again in the hope that this time I would find other things to do with it. Because, obviously lots of people do love it and the trendies in the chef world are, generally speaking, big fans. Even Jane Grigson, long ago said:
"They are as near to a fine vegetable as the brassicas get."
Which is a bit mean to cabbage and brussels sprouts which I love. And I prefer cauliflower to broccoli. Jane Grigson doesn't. Which only goes to prove that we all have our own personal likes and dislikes that are sometimes quite irrational. Sugar seems to be just about the only thing that everyone likes in some form or another.
Historically broccoli goes back to the Romans and it seems to be a very Italian thing still. Apicius, who wrote a cookbook in Roman times, had many ways of dealing with it. The most famous one consisted of boiling the broccoli and then 'bruising' it with a dressing of cumin and coriander seeds, with chopped onion plus a few drops of oil and 'sun made' wine. Simple and not dissimilar to a lot of modern dressings that you will find for it.
It is also a super vegetable in that it is packed with good things. According to the Guardian:
"Broccoli offers high levels of immune system-boosting vitamin C, bone-strengthening vitamin K, and folate, which plays a strategic role in regulating cell growth and reproduction. It's also packed with glucosinolate compounds, such as sulforaphane and glucoraphanin, which help to fight cancer. By reducing inflammation, eating broccoli could also help lower the risk of stroke and heart disease."
But then again:
"by the time broccoli gets to you it could have lost 80% of its potentially heart-healthy glucosinolates, a group of sulphur-based chemicals that also provide this veg with its characteristic flavour and purported cancer-protective effects.... broccoli could lose up to 70% of its vitamin C and beta-carotene and 50% of its antioxidant activity in just six days." James Wong - The Guardian
So grow your own seems to be the answer. Well I'm not sure my gardening skills are up to that, although somebody in all those articles I read seemed to think that the purple spouting kind (and probably broccolini) were the easiest to grow.
I found a few pictures of some different kinds and show them below. The romanescu is particularly weird looking (the knobbly bright green one), and the purple broccoli looks more like cauliflower to me.
So what can you do with it? Or rather what is the best way to deal with it. Generally speaking the main options are variations on salads, pasta, frittata, soup and stir-fry, with opinion being slightly divided on whether to cook until soft or to eat al dente. Probably the weight of opinion seems to be with the soft version. They are all agree that you shouldn't discard the stems though. You can find lots of up to date and trendy things to do with it by just searching generally or searching your favourite celebrity chef's site. They all have at least one recipe. The flavourings I found that were most often used with them seemed to be anchovies and chilli.
So here are two from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's marvellous Love Your Leftovers book, I have given you the aforesaid pasta dish from Beverley Sutherland Smith before, but I have added her weird one with tinned salmon here.
Broccoli Stem Carpaccio - I found this one online, so just click on the picture or the title. You don't cook the stems at all here - they are just sliced very thinly.
Stem Soup
20g butter or 20ml rapeseed or sunflower oil,
1 onion, diced,
1 bay leaf,
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped,
500-600g broccoli stems, cauliflower stems and outer leaves and or cabbage stalks and outer leaves, roughly chopped,
1.2 litres chicken or veg stock, or water
50g crème fraiche, plus extra to serve (optional),
salt and freshly ground black or white pepper,
Extra virgin rapeseed or olive oil to finish.
Melt the butter or heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium-low heat, then add the onion, bay leaf and pinch of salt. Sauté until the onion is softened, but don't let it take on any colour. This should take about 10 minutes.
Add the garlic and stir for a minute. Add the stems and fry them gently for a few minutes, stirring to coat in the onion and garlic.
Tip the stock or water into the pan and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the vegetable stems are very tender, 10-15 minutes depending on their size.
Cool slightly, then add the crème fraiche. Blitz the soup in a blender or using a stick blender until smooth.
Return to the heat, season to taste with salt and pepper and heat through gently, being careful not to let it boil.
Serve the soup in warmed bowls, topped with a trickle of extra virgin oil and a little crème fraiche, if you like. Finish with a generous grinding of pepper.
You can add crunch by substituting croutons for the crème fraiche for serving, or toast cheese-topped crostini and float one in each bowl before serving.
Or stir 1/4 tsp caraway seeds in with the sautéing onions, then add 100g grated Cheddar or other strong cheese when you purée the soup at the end.
Broccoli with salmon
250g broccoli heads, 30g butter, 2 teaspoons mild Madras curry powder, 1 x 220g can red salmon, black pepper, 1/2 cup thick/double cream, 1 teaspoon French mustard, 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon medium-hot mango chutney
Trim the broccoli into flowerets. Peel the thick pieces of stalk and slice the stalk up. Put both heads and stalks into a pot of boiling salted water and cook for 5-6 minutes or until just tender. Drain.
Melt the butter in a frying pan, add curry powder and heat for about 30 seconds or until aromatic. Add the broccoli and toss or turn over so it is lightly coated with the mixture. Put into a buttered shallow casserole or small pie dish (a good size is about 20cm square). It will only be a flat layer, but this is better than using a deep dish in which not all the salmon and broccoli would be covered by sauce. Remove any bones from the salmon but keep the liquid. Break up the fish and scatter over the top of the broccoli. Season with a little pepper.Mix the cream with mustard, mayonnaise, salt and chutney. Spread a layer over the fish so that it is lightly coated. Refrigerate if not looking within 30 minutes, covering the top of the dish with some plastic wrap.
When ready to cook preheat oven to 180ºC and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the sauce has melted and the salmon and broccoli are hot. As you serve you may find some juices in the base, just spoon these over the top of each plate as they have a lovely flavour.
This dish sounds like one of those things made up on the spur of the moment by raiding the store cupboard! And although she tells you to keep the salmon liquid she doesn't tell you what to do with it? I leave that up to you to decide.
I still think pasta is best. Isn't it beautiful though?
