Romanesco is like the Lady Gaga of broccoli.
Unapologetic, captivating, a bit peculiar. Certainly there isn’t a more stylish vegetable.
With its kaleidoscopic spires and minarets, it looks like it could be some kind of architectural coral from the ocean floor…or Mars. The fractal nature of broccoli romanesco’s structure is quite stunning, and what’s even more remarkable, the number of spirals on a head of romanesco is a Fibonacci number.
Sometimes called “Roman cauliflower” the lineage of the vegetable indeed goes back to cauliflower, and it has the same texture of cauliflower, but the flavor is closer to that of broccoli, except more subdued.
As I pondered how to cook this beautiful head of romanesco, my mind landed on another classic Roman dish, Cacio e Pepe, traditionally a simple and satisfying spaghetti dish adorned with just Pecorino Romano cheese, black pepper, and some olive oil.
With a few tweaks and coaching from America’s Test Kitchen and Serious Eats, a properly Roman dish was born: Romanesco Cacio e Pepe.
I traded in the spaghetti strands for bite-sized orecchiette to match the shape of the romanesco florets I’d be tossing into the pasta. The chew of the al dente orecchiette was wonderful and the little indentations in them held just the right amount of sauce inside. Pecorino Romano is the classic cheese used, but I’m a Parmigiano Reggiano lover so I used half and half in this. The combination is great – you get that sheep’s milk tang from one and that sweet, round nuttiness from the other. Although it will be a bit more expensive, I recommend using the real imported stuff. In a dish like this where there are just a handful of ingredients, the flavors of each really shine and I think you’ll be able to taste the difference.
As for the romanesco, simple is the name of the game here, so I just did a quick blanch to cook them through, and finished them in a sauté of olive oil fragrant with slivers of garlic.
A few bites in, I realized why this combination of flavors tasted so familiar. When you were little, did you ever have Mac n Cheese with little bits of broccoli mixed in? Well, yeah, this is like the grown and sexy, Roman version. Buon appetito to that!
A properly Roman dish, this dish combines the classic "Cacio e Pepe” (cheese and pepper) with beautiful florets of broccoli romanesco sautéed in garlic and olive oil. Since the ingredients are few, using real imported Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano Reggiano will make a noticeable difference here. Buon appetito!
Ingredients
Instructions
Recipe Source: LickMySpoon.com.
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This post was published on KQED’s Bay Area Bites on January 16, 2013.
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https://lickmyspoon.com/recipes/romanesco-the-lady-gaga-of-broccoli/