I went shopping at Whole Foods the other day to pick up ingredients for some Fettuccine Alfredo. I was planning to do a taste-test between two different versions of the dish for my cousin and her BF to enjoy. As I was shopping, I thought about the fact that my cousin once commented on the lack of vegetables that typically adorned our Midwest dinner plates while growing up. So I perused the produce aisle trying to think of something to go with our already heavily fat laden and carb laden meal. Broccoli Romenesco was on sale for $2.99 a head for Amazon Prime members.
I remember once that a friend in Portland and her BF were super excited to make Romanesco when they found it in a local store. Her BF was more excited to explain the science behind the design of the vegetable to which my eyes started to glaze over when he began speaking. So when I saw the artsy looking vegetable on sale, I decided to pick one up and find a good recipe to use to try to healthify our dinner. Ha ha. I researched a lot and finally settled on a simple recipe for roasted Romenesco found at goop.com.
When my cousin and her BF arrived for dinner, I gave them the option of skipping the token vegetable with dinner and they chose to keep it on the menu. I had to cook it a little bit longer than the recommended 10 minutes but my romanesco stalks were a bit crowded on the cookie sheet so that may have been why.
Some people considered Romanesco to be broccoli, others consider it to be cauliflower. To me it’s almost a cross between the two but waaaaaaay better. To be completely transparent, I really hate the taste of both broccoli and cauliflower unless roasted to death (i.e. having all the flavor removed) or drowning in cheese or some sort of fatty cream sauce (i.e. completely covering the flavor).
With romenesco, there’s no need to cover the flavor. It’s not super strong like broccoli or cauliflower. I can eat it simply roasted with some oil, salt and pepper or dipped in some easy garlic aioli, which tastes good with almost anything you can put in your mouth.
ingredients.
- 1 head romanesco, washed
- avocado oil
- sea salt
- freshly ground pepper
directions.
- Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Tear romanesco into bite size florets and drizzle with avocado oil, salt and pepper.
- Roast uncovered for about 10 to 20 minutes or until lightly charred (or until desired doneness), stirring once or twice to even out the browning.
Recipe rating:
Food Snob 