This served as the starter for Saturday’s dinner on the workshop weekend.
It is adapted from a recipe in Ottolenghi’s eponymous first cookbook.
That night it tumbled over a small pile of salad leaves–radicio, rocket, lettuce–dressed with olive oil lemon juice and salt.
Here it is on a bed of Sam Talbot’s Quinoa–and was our supper.
1lb broccoli–broken into bite-size pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
4 garlic cloves–sliced as thin as you can
2 fresh red chilis, medium hot–de-seeded and sliced
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemon sliced very thin
- Steam the broccoli–more than blanched less than tender–still crunchy in other words.
- Remove to a bowl and pour over 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt.
- Heat a grill pad to hot.
- Scatter the broccoli over it and colour lightly.
- Return to the serving bowl.
- Heat the second batch of oil.
- When hot cook the garlic slices and the chili until the garlic takes on some color.
- Pour this mixture over the broccoli.
- Add the lemon slices and mix in carefully.
- Serve on a bed of salad leaves of choice dressed with olive oil, lemon juice and salt.
Robin Ellis 