Quick ideas
Purple sprouting broccoli with pangrattato
Roasting broccoli gives it a much deeper flavour, as the edges take on some colour and produce minerally savoury notes. The breadcrumbs add crunch, punch, and pungency. This is a perfect starter, side or snack, or easily converted into a quick meal by tumbling the whole lot through some freshly cooked pasta and finishing with Parmesan.
Cook's notes
The crusts make the bread more difficult to pulse into breadcrumbs, so are best removed, but they needn’t be wasted. Trim them away from a large piece of bread in slices, and you can brush them lightly in olive oil and bake them in a moderate oven with a pinch of salt until golden and crisp. They’ll make great little snacks for dipping, almost like melba toast.
Ingredients
- 300g purple sprouting broccoli
- olive oil
- 200g piece of stale sourdough bread
- 1 tbsp roughly chopped rosemary leaves
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 lemon
- pinch of dried chilli flakes, to taste
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Preheat your oven to 200˚C/Gas 6. Trim the broccoli down into pencil-thick spears, using the whole stalk, leaves and all. Place the spears in a roasting tray, toss in just enough oil to coat, and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 10 -12 mins. The stalks should be just tender, and the florets will have started to darken and crisp.
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Step 2
Meanwhile, cut the crusts away from the bread (see cook’s note on how not to waste). Tear the bread up and pop it into a food processor with the rosemary and a generous pinch of salt. Blitz into coarse crumbs.
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Step 3
Peel and finely chop the garlic clove. Finely zest the lemon.
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Step 4
Warm 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan and add the breadcrumbs. Cook them over a medium heat, stirring often, until golden and crisp. They’ll take 4-5 mins or so.
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Step 5
When ready, add the garlic and lemon zest to the pan, along with a pinch or two of dried chilli flakes (depending on your taste for heat). Drop the heat down low and cook for a couple more minutes, to take the raw edge off the garlic and release the fragrance from the lemon.
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Step 6
When the broccoli is ready, finish with a modest squeeze of lemon juice and pile it onto a serving plate. Top with the hot, crispy breadcrumbs and eat immediately.