Simple ways to serve purple sprouting broccoli could be just blanched, well seasoned and served with melted butter, perhaps with a few shavings of Parmesan some Parma ham and a good drizzle of olive oil.
Here is one dish I quite like (serves 4).
400g purple sprouting broccoli cut into two inch chunks
500g pasta
Sauce
3 garlic bulbs
1 small red chilli
1 Tbls red wine vinegar
100ml olive oil
1 x 50g can drained anchovy fillets
Good pinch coarse ground black pepper
A few sprigs of thyme
Make the sauce by adding all the ingredients into a food processor. Blitz this down but leave slightly course.
Cook pasta by packet instructions, meanwhile blanch the broccoli in salted water for about 3mins then drain. Drain the cooked pasta, then season with pepper & a glug of olive oil (don’t use salt here as the sauce will be salty).
Toss the hot pasta and the warm broccoli together then spoon over the sauce.
Another vegetable just coming into season is the radish. Again this is something often just tossed into a salad but the peppery flavour can go along way to enhancing many dishes.
One such salad is to combine the radish with chicory, pickled beetroot, blood orange segments, fennel (out of season but generally available), perhaps even crumble in some feta, finish with a classic French dressing. You could serve with griddled sea trout, plus a lovely glass of chilled Sancerre and pretend summer is already here.
How about confit radish with orange, which is great with lamb. Place in a shallow pan 250g of coarsely chopped radish, and add 2 tbls olive oil, 2 tbls light brown sugar, zest of one orange plus the juice and zest of half a lemon.
Just cover with water then bring to the boil, reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 30 – 45 mins. The liquid should reduce to about two table spoons worth and the radish should be tender. This can be served hot or cold as a garnish.
Another idea is to serve as a vegetable in a main dish. This will go with most meats so give it a go. You will need about 100g per portion and all you need do is boil in salted water until tender, about ten mins (the colour of the water will be a beautiful pink/purple). Drain then put back in the pan off the heat and either drizzle in some olive oil or place a knob of butter in and swirl around so the radish is coated and glistening, season with sea salt & a fresh grind of black pepper, serve immediately.
Fish & chips is a big favourite but too often we avoid fish because of the deep frying etc. So the simple solution is not to deep fry. We probably still have the “I must loose wait after Christmas” in our minds, so deep fried batter things are definitely off the list, so try this.
Serves 4
8 Lemon sole fillets - ask you fishmonger to fillet or buy ready fillets.
Flour
Salt & pepper
6 Tbls olive oil
Knob of butter
Caper Mayonnaise
30g drained and washed capers, chopped
30g cornichons, chopped
100g mayonnaise
Pinch salt & black pepper
Juice of half a lemon
Combine all the mayonnaise ingredients, seasoning to taste. Keep in the fridge until needed.
Place a good handful of flour on a plate and season well with salt & pepper. Heat a non stick frying pan with one and a half tbls of olive oil. Put the sole fillets in the flour and ensure evenly coated. Take the fillet out of the flour and tossing in your hands gently, dust off excess flour. Placing one tip of the fish in the pan, if you get a good sizzle, it is ready, if no sizzle the pan is not hot enough if it splatters it is too hot. When ready lay the fillets two at a time in the pan. Cook for about two minutes, when golden brown turn them over and cook on the other side and add some of the butter, spooning the melted butter over the fish. Place the first batch/es on a warm plate and wipe out the pan then add more of the olive oil and repeat the cooking process.
Serve with hot chips and a good dollop of your caper mayonnaise, perhaps another sprinkle of lemon too.
