This week’s offering from Angela Hartnett’s ‘Midweek Suppers’ in the Guardian is ‘the ideal quick meal’. The other main ingredient is calabrese/broccoli.
Serves 4
Preparation and cooking: 20 minutes
Ingredients
1 cucumber
25ml soy sauce
75ml sesame oil
10ml white wine vinegar
2 heads of broccoli cut into florets
2 tbsp olive oil
4 salmon fillets, skin removed, 120g each
½ bunch of dill, chopped
salt and pepper
horseradish cream, to serve
Method
Leaving the skin on, cut the cucumber into 8cm long strips, discarding any seeds. Place in a bowl and add the soy sauce, sesame oil and white wine vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper and allow to marinate.
Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil, add the broccoli and cook for five minutes until just cooked. Drain and allow to cool.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and cook the salmon for two minutes on each side, depending on the thickness (up to a maximum of five minutes in total). Remove from the pan and allow to cool until it is cold enough to handle. Then break it into flakes.
In a large bowl, mix the salmon, broccoli and marinated cucumber, tipping in as much of the marinade as you like. Finish with the chopped dill, mix well and check the seasoning.
Serve on a large plate with spoons of horseradish cream or grated fresh horseradish. Serve immediately.
It would be a shame to tinker too much with this week’s lovely fresh broccoli supplied by Jeremy so why not try this recipe from Sybil Kapoor’s Modern British Food?
Serves 4
Preparation and cooking: 10 minutes maximum
Ingredients
225g purple sprouting broccoli
2 tbsp vegetable oil
6 small red dried chillies
½ tsp rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1-2 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp sugar (optional)
Method
Trim the stalks of the broccoli, removing any yellow leaves and cutting out any scars, before washing thoroughly. If any of the stems are too thick, slice them into elegant strips.
Heat the oil until very hot in a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan. Add the chillies, and when they begin to sizzle and deepen in colour, stand back and quickly add the vinegar. The frying pan will spit and sizzle for a few seconds and you will suddenly inhale a huge amount of chilli. Despite this, immediately add the garlic and broccoli.
Stir fry for a further 2-3 minutes, then add the soy sauce and sugar (if wished), check the seasoning and serve.
From Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook. Good as a vegetable side dish, she says, or, with rice, as a light supper.
Serves 4-6
Preparation and cooking: about 15 minutes
Ingredients
600g calabrese or sprouting broccoli
1 sweet red pepper
2 tbsp groundnut oil
1 tbsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp dried chilli, crumbled
3 tbsp chicken or vegetable stock
salt
Method
Trim the broccoli, retaining much of the stem as well as the heads. If the stems are tough, pare off the outer layer and then cut the stems into chunks. If using calabrese, separate the heads into small florets, breaking them off the main stem.
Deseed the pepper and then cut it into strips.
Heat the oil in a wok or deep frying pan and add the mustard seeds. Add the crumbled dried chilli and, when the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the broccoli and stir to combine. Add the strips of pepper and stock, and stir again.
Cover the pan, turn down the heat and cook for about 4-5 minutes, or until the broccoli is tender but crisp. If any liquid remains in the pan, raise the heat and boil it off. Season with salt before serving.
A simple seasonal dish that’s quick to make and very tasty.
Serves 4
Preparation time: less than 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 to 30 minutes
Ingredients
500g sprouting broccoli
1 medium sized fresh red chilli
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 small tin of anchovy fillets in olive oil, drained (approx 10-12 fillets)
6 tbsp olive oil
350g pasta (fusilli, orecchiette, penne rigate or conchiglie are the best shapes)
4 tbsp grated parmesan
salt and pepper
Method
Put a large pan of water on to boil with a little salt. Trim any woody stalks from the broccoli, wash and chop into 1cm sections. Cut the chilli in half lengthways and remove the seeds and pith. Chop the chilli flesh, garlic and the anchovies finely.
Drop the pasta into the boiling water and stir immediately. Cook until just tender.
In another pan warm 4 tbsp of the olive oil over a medium flame and add the chilli, garlic and anchovies. Sweat these for a minute or so and then add the broccoli, season with a little salt and pepper and continue to cook gently while the pasta cooks.When the pasta’s been cooking for about 5 minutes, transfer a small ladle of its water to the broccoli mix. When the pasta is ready, add the remaining 2 tbsp oil and the cheese to this mixture and stir over a high heat for a couple of minutes. Toss with the drained pasta and serve immediately.
There are more recipes for using your tenderstem broccoli on the tenderstem website.
Serves: 4
Preparation and cooking time:
less than 10 minutes
Ingredients
200g tenderstem broccoli
3 medium carrots
2 tbsp olive oil
2tbsp black mustard seeds
1 heaped tsp garam masala
1 heaped tsp ground cumin
juice of 1 lemon
chopped coriander to serve
Method
Shave the carrots lengthways into long strips using a vegetable peeler. Steam or boil the tenderstem broccoli for about 2 minutes until almost tender, then add the carrot strips for 1 minute.
While the vegetables are cooking, add the olive oil to a small frying pan and gently fry the mustard seeds until they start to pop. Once they start popping, add the garam masala and ground cumin. Give the pan a quick shake to mix and then tip into a small clean bowl before the spices start to burn. Squeeze over the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.
Pour the dressing over the tenderstem and carrots and toss to coat evenly. Sprinkle generously with chopped coriander and serve immediately.
