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!
