Romanesco Broccoli

With Maggie Mehaffey

“With a vegetable like this, the simpler the preparation the better,” says Farmer/Cook Maggie Mehaffey. She is referring to Romanesco Broccoli, which is a cross between cauliflower and broccoli, and has been traced back hundreds of years to Italy.

Local farms are increasingly growing vegetables that you have a hard time finding anywhere else. It allows them to be more competitive as well as giving the average consumer more choices and the opportunity to try new tastes. It is also part of our continuing coverage about how farmers like to cook the foods they grow.

With this unique looking vegetable, Maggie likes to simply cut up the heads into equal size pieces and using some olive oil, chopped fresh thyme, sea salt and ground black pepper mix them all together until the pieces are evenly coated. Next, roast them in the oven, uncovered, at 450 degrees F. for about 10 minutes until they are a golden brown. Turn them over and sprinkle them with some Balsamic vinegar and put back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so, but be sure to check them halfway through since ovens tend to cook at different temperatures and times.

“We like to roast our vegetables, as this method brings out the natural sweetness without losing any of the nutrition. You can roast broccoli, cauliflower, onions, summer squash, eggplant, asparagus, green beans, and just about any other vegetable, or a medly of any of the above. The method is simple, all you need is a little olive oil, your favorite herbs, and salt and pepper,” says Maggie.

Serve as a side dish or as a snack as soon as they are cool enough to eat.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons of your favorite herbs, chopped fine
Salt and pepper to taste
Balsamic vinegar

Instructions

1.Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Cut the vegetable into uniform pieces to ensure even cooking.
3. In a bowl, toss vegetables with olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh thyme (or your favorite herb, basil is also very nice)
4. Spread vegetables evenly on a baking pan.
5. Roast for 10 minutes, turn over pieces with a spatula, sprinkle with the Balsamic, and roast 5-10 minutes longer. Total time depends on the thickness of the pieces, so keep checking near the end of the roasting. You don't want the vegetables to burn, but charring and browning is ok.

Recipe courtesy of Maggie MeHaffey, Mehaffey’s Farm, 2011.

Maggie Mehaffey's family, who all help run the Mehaffey Farm,  have lived on their farmland since 1826. The house and barn date back to the early 1700s. The farm’s original 300 acres provided a sustainable living for several generations, until the mid 1960s when the dairy cows were sold. With the remaining 90 acres, we now engage in a new endeavor; to preserve the family legacy our ancestors began.