Ravinder Bhogal’s purple sprouting broccoli recipes

If you’ve grown weary of eating winter’s roots, you’ll be glad at the sight of purple sprouting broccoli – it tastes of the promise of spring and sunnier days to come. Blanch it, steam it, chargrill it or roast it: PSB can stand up to the punchiest flavours and still hold its own.

Roasted broccoli with spelt, cashews and ginger-miso dressing

This grain salad makes the best of British ingredients such as spelt, broccoli and kale. The Japanese-inspired dressing is versatile enough to use with all sorts of vegetables.

Prep 10 min
Cook 1 hr
Serves 4

200g spelt, rinsed and drained
150g kale
300g purple sprouting broccoli
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp rapeseed oil

For the dressing
2 tbsp white miso
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp mirin
2 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
60ml rapeseed oil

To serve
50g cashews, toasted and coarsely chopped
3 spring onions, trimmed abnd thinly sliced

Whisk all the dressing ingredients together until emulsified.

Put the rinsed spelt in a large saucepan with plenty of boiling water and cook for 20 minutes, until just tender. Add the kale for the last three minutes of the cooking time. Drain, rinse and mix with half the dressing while it is still warm.

Heat a griddle over a high heat – you want it very hot. Toss the broccoli in both the oils, then lay it over the griddle and cook for around eight minutes until tender and slightly charred.

To serve, transfer the spelt to a serving platter and then lay over the broccoli. Drizzle over the remaining dressing and scatter with the cashews and spring onions.

Charred broccoli with almond and anchovy sauce and lemon salsa

The pungent anchovies are the real hero of this sauce. Combined with creamy almonds, earthy broccoli and refreshing citrus, the sauce is an addictive one. If you want to make a meal of it, add orecchiette pasta to the mix.

Prep 25 min
Cook 10 min
Serves 6

500g purple sprouting broccoli, trimmed, large pieces cut in half lengthways
Extra-virgin olive oil, to drizzle

For the sauce
100g blanched almonds, roasted
60g white sourdough, torn
8 anchovy fillets in olive oil, drained
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
Sea salt and pepper

For the lemon salsa
2 lemons
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, crushed
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
½ bunch mint leaves, finely chopped
1-2 tsp pul biber or dried chilli flakes, to taste
125ml extra-virgin olive oil
50g blanched toasted flaked almonds

For the almond and anchovy sauce, put the almonds and bread in a small bowl with enough boiling water to just cover. Stand for 15 minutes to soften. Drain, reserving 100ml of the soaking liquid. Put the almond mixture in a high-speed blender with the anchovies, oil, vinegar and reserved liquid. Blend until very smooth, then season to taste.

Set a griddle pan over a high heat. To make the salsa, finely grate the zest from one of the lemons and set aside. Then, peel both lemons by cutting off the tops and bottoms, then sit them upright and cut away the pith from top to bottom with a sharp knife, turning as you go. Roughly chop the flesh and throw it in a bowl. Now add the grated zest, onions, garlic, parsley and mint, and stir. Season well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, chilli or pul biber and gently mix in the olive oil.

Drizzle the broccoli with oil, season, then cook on the griddle until tender. To serve, smooth the almond sauce on a platter, top with broccoli and spoon over the salsa. Scatter with toasted almonds and serve at once.

Pickled sprouting broccoli stems

This zero-waste pickle is great served alongside curries and noodle dishes.

Prep 5 min

Leftover purple sprouting broccoli stems (ie, the offcuts from other broccoli dishes)
Salt
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
Chilli flakes or gochugaru
A pinch of caster sugar
Sesame seeds

Take whatever leftover stems you have and peel them with a potato peeler to remove the tough outer layer. Using a sharp knife, cut each one into matchsticks. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil and cook the stems for one minute.

Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl of iced water. Drain, put in a bowl and then season with the soy, sesame oil, a quarter-teaspoon gochugaru or chilli flakes, and a fat pinch each of caster sugar and salt. Mix and sprinkle over some sesame seeds.