What To Do With…. Romanesco Broccoli

A new feature I am introducing to my blog is “What To Do With…”

I believe people are inclined to try new foods, but they don’t know what to do with it or what it tastes like. Or alternatively, they know one or two recipes for a particular ingredient, but don’t know what else it can be used for. My goal for My Kind of Food is to have a repertoire of great handy ideas and sometimes recipes that will encourage you to try something new or to use an ingredient in a new way.

If there is an ingredient you would like to see for future, drop me a line! Suggestions are welcome.

My favourite part of going to the market is discovering something seasonal and fleeting. Something you can only savour at a special time of the year. Right now, the markets are carrying the Romanesco broccoli. It’s a really unusual looking thing. It looks like something out of a sci-fi movie: lurid lime-green colour, angular shape and a bumpy surface like that of an uninhabited planet. But if you think of it like any old broccoli or cauliflower, you'll find it's really simple to cook and enjoy.

The Romanesco is very similar to the cauliflower in both taste and texture and therefore, any preparation you use for cauliflower would be just as nice for the strange looking vegetable.

Some ideas of what to do with Romanesco:

1. Steamed and served with a béchamel or cheese sauce
2. Roasted with smoked paprika and butter
3. Made into a gratin with gruyere and cream
4. Sautéed with garlic and olive oil
5. Steamed and pureed into a soup