What Is This Interesting Vegetable

My wife brought this odd looking vegetable home from the farmers market they have at her workplace. I had never seen one before but it certainly looked interesting so I steamed it up and served it as a side dish with our meal that night. It was delicious. Tasted more like cauliflower but only more tender.

I don’t think you will find it in many supermarkets but if you can find it, try it. This relative of the cauliflower family is lime green and has cone-shaped florets.  You want to select heads that are very dense and bright in color and stay away from any with bruised florets. This can stay in the refrigerator for about a week, but I promise, it won’t last that long once you taste it.

Only Martha Stewart

My wife happened to be looking at her Martha Stewart November 2007 Living Magazine and what did she find? A recipe featuring Broccoli Romanesco and Parmesan Puree.  Only Martha would have a recipe for an esoteric vegetable only found in local farmers’ markets. And, it looks like a great one I can’t wait to try this Thanksgiving.

If you can’t find Broccoli Romanesco, you can substitute a head of broccoli and a head of cauliflower instead.

Broccoli Romanesco and Parmesan Puree
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living Magazine

Ingredients

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 ½ pounds broccoli Romanesco (about two heads), cut into ¾ inch pieces
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
½ cup water
Coarse salt (Kosher or sea)
½ cup whole milk
½ cup heavy cream
½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese plus more for adding at the end
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

How to Make at Home

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the broccoli Romanesco and sliced garlic cook until brightly colored and starting to turn golden brown. This should take about 8 – 10 minutes.  Remove and reserve a few pieces for garnishing but leave the rest.

Add water and 1 teaspoon of salt to the skillet. Cover and cook until the broccoli Romanesco until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain any remaining liquid from the skillet.

In your food processor or blender, puree half the broccoli Romanesco and transfer to a large bowl. Puree the remaining broccoli Romanesco.

In a separate saucepan, bring the milk and cream to a gentle simmer. Add the milk and cream mixture to the food processor with the second batch and pulse to combine. Add this mixture to the first batch in the bowl and mix gently together.

Add the Parmigiano-Reggiano, season with salt and pepper and mix together. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Garnish with the reserved broccoli Romanesco and a little more of the Parmigiano cheese.

Serve as a side dish.

A perfect summer side dish with a South American flair that goes great with anything you put on the grill. I found this recipe in Cuisine at Home cooking magazine (one of my favorites) that was served with their Grilled Pork with Chimichurri Sauce.

I wasn’t sure how sweet potatoes and pineapple would work together but I am happy to tell you they got along just fine and were delicious. On a hot summer night, they were the cooling influence to a hot and spicy Chimichurri sauce.

Couldn’t be easier. Here’s how to make them at your house. The next day we served the leftover pork with the leftover sweet potatoes for a great meal. A photo is at the end of the blog.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Pineapple and Banana

Ingredients

1-pound sweet potatoes
1 banana
½ cup fresh pineapple
¼ cup orange juice
2 tablespoons honey
Salt and pepper to taste

Prep

Peel and cut the sweet potatoes in to 1-inch cubes. One pound of potatoes should yield about 3 cups. Peel the banana and dice the pineapple.

How to Make at Home

Add the potato to a pot filled with cold water and bring to a boil. Always start with cold water. Never add potatoes to water already boiling. Add some salt and cook until fork tender. Takes 10 to 12 minutes.

When the potatoes are done, drain them and add them back to the pot. Heat the potatoes over medium high heat for a couple of minutes to dry them out a bit. When done, add them to a bowl for mashing.

Add the banana, pineapple, orange juice, and honey to the bowl and mash to your desired consistency. Be sure to not over mash them. You want them a little bit chunky.

Taste and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.

Succotash - Don’t You Just Love The Sound of It?

Succotash (SUHK-uh-tash) comes from the Indian word msickquatash or boiled whole kernels of corn. It is a popular US favorite especially in the southern states and consists of lima beans, corn and sometimes red peppers that have been cooked.

I found a recipe for succotash in some grocery store that I adapted for myself using ingredients I had on hand. When I looked up succotash on Google, I was blown away at how many variations there are for such a simple dish. I realized succotash can be what ever you want it to be as long as you are using corn and some sort of legume, most often lima beans.

Fresh lima beans, sometimes called butter beans, come as pods very similar to edamame (whole soy bean pods). Although not generally available with the whole pod, you may find some in a specialty store and they should be dark green and glossy.

Dried lima and frozen lima beans are readily available in most supermarkets. The dried lima beans need to be soaked and cooked before using. You can find regular frozen lima beans and baby lima beans too. I find there is nothing wrong with frozen lima beans the same as I don’t think there is anything wrong with other frozen vegetables as you as you handle them properly and don’t defrost and refreeze.

Did you know that 1 pound of dry packaged beans = 2 cups dry = 6 cups cooked beans?

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