Purple sprouting broccoli

Jan Ostle, head chef and owner at Wilsons, Bristol, celebrates the arrival of spring with the first of the purple sprouting broccoli

A common mistake with purple sprouting broccoli is to use only the tips. The central stem can be a bit tough, but treat it right and it’s like you’ve got two vegetables in one. We peel it back and blanch the stem in incredibly salty, boiling water – the osmosis effect keeps all the juices in – and plunge it in ice cold water after a minute, then slice and serve it cold. Often, the orets are so tender they barely need cooking. We usually pick them off and give them a quick char on the grill.

We’re lucky here at Wilsons because we get all our vegetables from our own little farm, which is run by my wife, Mary, about ten minutes’ drive away. Sprouting broccoli is one of the first things to come through each year, so it’s always a happy thing when it arrives in the kitchen – one of the first hints of spring.

We might serve it with a burnt butter hollandaise or the flavoured oil we make from langoustine and lobster heads and shells, which infuses for a couple of days. We toss the charred florets or blanched stem in the shellfish oil with a squeeze of lemon juice and let it rest for a minute or so – so that the flavours get to properly meet each other – before serving it alongside a piece of white fish or maybe with burrata and toast. Other seasonal ingredients are also a great source of inspiration: purple sprouting broccoli can be served alongside wild garlic, goats’ curd and hazelnuts, or with peas, orecchiette and toasted nuts, for instance.

It’s sacrilege to overcook it until it’s floppy, and an error to kill it with too-strong flavours too. No doubt an anchovy-chilli paste is a nice thing, but it can overwhelm and mask the broccoli. If you’re lucky enough to get your hands on day-fresh sprouting broccoli, it’s delicious, if cooked carefully, just by itself or with a little warm butter – that way, you can taste the full spectrum of brassica mustiness and that incredible green sweetness.

This article was taken from the March 2024 issue of Food and Travel. To subscribe today, click here.