On the Side #13 | Broccoli with the good stem
The everything to everyone vegetable(s), and a few ways to dress it
The subject of this month’s On The Side column is purple sprouting broccoli.
It’s also white sprouting broccoli.
And Tenderstem, too. Which if you are in America you will know as Broccolini. (Did you also know they/it are a hybrid of broccoli and gai lan, created by the Sakata Seed Company? I once met the team behind it. Fascinating.)
I know these vegetables — let’s call them ‘long-stemmed broccoli’ — are not the same thing. BUT they do do more or less the same thing. Which, as it happens, is pretty much everything.
Long-stemmed broccoli is the vegetable that suits all scenarios: brothy or well-sauced dishes vs dry and plain fillets of fish or meat, roast vegetables on so on; that works well alongside literally all of the carbs; looks to the manor born next to fancy food, but can also rough it; complements bland or heavily spiced meals … I could go on.
And I do, a bit, below.
What lies beneath
As well as thoughts on
the many and varied ways to cook long-stemmed broccoli;
good embellishments and dressings;
and the kind of centrepieces and other sides long-stemmed broccoli goes well alongside,
I’ve also got three recipes for you:
an outstanding Tenderstem/Broccolini gratin (honestly, it’s epic — and will be ideal with the rapidly approaching Easter lamb);
a deli olive compound butter, to be melted over steamed or blanched or charred long-stemmed broccoli; and
purple sprouting broccoli with tarragon. Which sounds basic, and is indeed only slightly more involved than the title suggested. Yet also quite probably the Best Side Dish Of All Time.
As with In The Centre and Good Things columns, plus the ever-expanding Recipe Archive, the rest of this On The Side post is for paid supporters of Rocket & Squash. Come on, join us!