Betsy Webber–who attended my cooking workshop in May–recently commented that this was one of her favorite dishes. Thanks Betsy for reminding me!
We are having it for lunch–I had just enough tomato sauce left over to make it work.
I’ve been looking forward to trying it again for a couple of weeks.
It heralds the new season we are glorying in here.
Comfort food for the new chill.
An autumn/winter replacement for the Italian classic–Parmigiana Melanzane.
Here it is with a slice of sweet potato and some baba ganoush.
450gms/1lb broccoli–broken up into florets
4 tblsps tomato sauce*
parmesan cheese–freshly grated
salt and pepper
- Steam the broccoli florets until they soften–but retain a bit of crunchiness.
- Put them in a bowl and pour over two tablespoons of olive oil and season.
- Heat a grill pad to hot.
- Char the the florets lightly and remove.
- Oil a shallow oven proof dish and spread some tomato sauce over the base.
- Cover this with a layer of broccoli florets and season with salt and pepper.
- Sprinkle over some parmesan.
- Repeat the process finishing with a layer of parmesan.
- Dribble olive oil over the top.
- Heat the oven to 200C/400F.
- Pop in the dish and bake for 15 minutes.
- It should come out sizzling!
*Tomato sauce
3 cloves of garlic – peeled and finely sliced
4 tbsp olive oil
2 x 800 g/28 oz tins tomatoes – drained of their juice
salt and pepper
- Fry the garlic gently in 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan but do not let it brown.
- Add the broken up tomatoes and the salt and pepper.
- Cook on a high heat, stirring frequently to prevent burning, and watch out for splattering!
- (Use the biggest wooden spoon you have!)
- Cooking time is about 20 minutes.
- When little red pock marks appear, making it look as though the surface of the moon has turned red, you know it is almost there.
- The sauce will have reduced considerably and thickened, with very little liquid left.
- Add the last two tablespoons of olive oil, taste and check the seasoning.
We decided that Betsy’s right–it’s delicious!
Robin Ellis 
Looks very tasy will try this tomorrow, have just had lunch – today soup with every vegetable and bean you can imagine very filling, warming and delicious. 🙂
How perfect this looks for winter. Thank you for inspiring me to take up cooking again. Your messages and photos take me back to happy days in France with my French husband. Since that marriage dissolved, cooking lost its appeal – but you’ve reawakened my zeal. I turned your comfort dahl into a soup (didn’t have any g. masala on hand) with spinach, tomatoes and chicken broth. It is comforting indeed, especially when one of my cats recently decided to move to a distant but (I hope) pink cloud. Thanks a million for always brightening my days. (Days which are otherwise spent buried under DULL and oh so dry legal documents!) All the best to you, Meredith and your herd of beasties. Looking forward to your new cookbook!
Thanks Jean and good luck with those docs…
Mmmmm! Throw it on a pizza crust & there you are! 🙂 We LOVE broccoli, in all ways, shapes, & forms!!
Robin, have you ever had (cold) broccoli salad? To your chopped broccoli, you add a bit of crumbled bacon, some golden raisins, cranberries, sunflower seeds, maybe a bit of cheddar cheese and chopped onion…Then for the base, mix up some mayonnaise (some people use a mayo/plain yogurt mix), a few tablespoons of red wine vinegar–and unfortunately, some sugar–not sure what you could substitute to give it a bit of sweetness; maybe less vinegar or more raisins? Mix it all together, give it some time to rest…and you have nice summer side dish! It’s one of our broccoli faves.
Delicious sounding…
Going to try this on the weekend. Looks wonderful. Have done this with eggplant. Tks
Robin, looks delicious! Will try it. (In response to Dianne P. , I use xylitol for a natural sugar substitute. Ideal for sugar-free diets. Looks and tastes like granulated sugar.)
I am so making this, thanks Robin!
Cannot wait. This sounds wonderful!
A really nice option for this weather which I am shortly going to try out. Yesterday I had a little more time so I made your Barley Risotto with Leeks which I’ve been meaning to try for ages. I was very keen to try it as barley – as opposed to rice – grows here in Scotland. It was excellent and I think really worth the extra work. My question is – I would like to change the leek taste – any ideas as to what might be a suitable alternative to try out? This is the first time I’ve tried to make a real risotto or barotto!
Onions I think are the normal ground taste or shallots even which would be a little less strong.
Thank you – I’ll try that next time – it should also give a nice colour.
These dishes look wonderful for anyone! Being diabetic-friendly is definitely an added bonus. I’d love your input on a diabetes question. Please email me when you have a chance. Thanks!
Everything tasted better cooked in that beautiful kitchen in Lautrec with all the excellent ingredients. So, thank you, Robin and Meredith!