As we gear up for a workshop at Oranjezicht City Farm on Saturday, our thoughts are deep in working with a harvest that has a fresh, green, and crunchy focus. So, we’re serving some greens and with a sprinkling of crunch.
The broccoli has flourished on the farm this winter, allowing us to experience it throughout the season. From the first head with leaves that reached out, as if to say: ‘hug me!’ to the last, with longer stems and tiny white flowers in the florets.
We’re always saving the ends of a loaf to make our own breadcrumbs because they’re such a great vehicle for seasoning – especially when it comes to the brassica family of veggies – and we can decide how dark to toast them.
We lean towards hot, salty, aromatic, using the likes of garlic, anchovy, and red chilli. These are cooked gently in some olive oil, until the anchovy has melted, the garlic is softened but without colour and the chilli has infused its warmth.
Then the crumbs are added, cooked briefly in the aromatic oil and, by the end of it they’re carrying all the flavour without any ingredient being discernible. The intensity of those flavours can be dialed up or down according to personal taste.
For the final few stems (above) it was a mere 20g of crumbs to one small anchovy, one small garlic clove and a third of a deseeded red chilli cooked in a scant tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Other times it may be double the crumbs for the same quantities but in larger sizes.
The broccoli is blanched until bright green and tender, drained, and blotted dry before spooning over the crumbs. And we can confirm that cooked this way, with its feisty crumb, this brassica is a great foil for the mild, creamy comfort of maccie cheese.