Purple sprouting broccoli. My new favourite thing.

Purple sprouting broccoli with a chili and sesame dressing

I like regular broccoli but the fact is it kind of bores me.
Then I moved to Britain. I stuck around through winter and it's already well into spring, and a strange looking broccoli is now appearing in the markets.

I ignored it at first, people. No kidding, I completely ignored it.

Then one slow evening while G and I contemplated the mystery of the cobweb that is forever dangling from our ceiling, I decided to see what google had to say about purple sprouting broccoli.
And boy, it had plenty to say.

Suddenly I felt a bit panicked-- here was a vegetable that the Brits have a serious fondness for and tragedy of tragedies, it has a very short growing season. Had I missed my chance?
Thankfully no.
And now, it's my new favourite thing.
But I do tend to obsess sometimes. There was that eggplant binge I went on in 2005.
Perhaps there's some pattern of obsessiveness related to purple foods? And what about that Purple Rain poster I used to have in my bedroom?

....

Purple sprouting broccoli doesn't taste all that much different than regular broccoli--it's mostly a texture thing. The stalks are slimmer and thus more tender and when you steam it the colours just pop. And you know I have a thing for popping colours.



I've eaten it many different ways lately, but I got a little bit of help on the last one.
I steamed the broccoli and tossed it with a dressing of sesame oil, lime juice, fish sauce, soy sauce and dried chilies, and topped it off with a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds.
It came together in a snap and as simple as it was, it was extremely good.

Click here for Delia's full instructions.
Notes:
-where her recipe listed dessertspoon, I took that to mean tablespoon. Whether that is correct or not, I don't know, but it tasted great.
-I used dried chili flakes instead of a fresh chili because that's what I had on hand.