Broccolo romanesco: The Fractal Veggie

This vegetable caught my eye at the Portland Farmers Market at PSU for its fractal looking florets of spikes in logarithmic spirals. It is basically a relative of the cauliflower (in fact it is sold as one of the "colored cauliflower" at the farmer market stand of DeNoble's Farm), though its greenness might make you think of broccoli. Why not both?

In fact, this is Broccolo romanesco, also known as Roman Cauliflower or broccoflower, a typically Italian vegetable that goes sublimely with fresh pasta with good olive oil and some Italian cheese. And so that's exactly how I decided to have it.

First, I separated the florets and chopped the stalks.

I did a quick blanch and shock of the broccolo romanesco after the chop- my kitchen is still in a state of remodel, so I have an oven but no sink, and I couldn't really wash these in the bathroom sink or tub, so this was my way to get around that (filling a pot with water from a sink is do-able. I saved the water from the blanching to also briefly cook the fresh pasta later (I got fresh pasta from the Farmers Market stand Pasta Del Sol, he always has an interesting quote on a whiteboard at the market too). Also, I admit I did sneak in several bites of strands of the raw pasta. Quality checking.

Next, I used a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and heated up some smashed fresh cloves of garlic in a pan, and then added some (but not all) of the florets and chopped stalk for a saute. Pepper and salt to taste. After the saute I also smashed all the chopped stalk portions in a  food processer to get them to a creamy consistency so that they could coat the pasta.

I left some of the florets to keep a cool texture and look to the dish  by taking those and after a spray of misty butter-flavored cooking spray, then roasted them in the oven at 400 for about 15 minutes for a bit of char.

Then, the al dente pasta and the smashed garlic/broccolo romanesco mixture were then mixed together in a big serving dish. It was all finished with the roasted florets of broccolo romanesco and a generous sprinkling of fresh grated parmesan romano and a few red pepper flakes for heat. The photo below is pre-mix- I had put all of the broccolo romanesco in, but in hindsight, wait for the roasted florets after the mix.