Romanesco – The Alien Vegetable

Our organic Bountiful Baskets order for 3/2/13 was filled with all kinds of goodies this week including Romanesco, Leaf Lettuce, Baby Broccoli, Cilantro, Celery, Red Potatoes, Red Swiss Chard, Bananas, Apples, Mangoes, Grapefruit, and Blueberries. Now, I’ve never cooked Romanesco, but I read that is was kind of like cauliflower, so I started throwing together a variety of items from the basket this week as well as a few leftovers from last week. I used the red potatoes, brussels sprouts, garlic, Romanesco to create a very healthy dish. The creation looked quite green, but it tasted delicious.

Romanesco is rich in vitamin C, vitamin K, dietary fiber and carotenoids. Brussels sprouts are rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid and dietary fiber. Of course, garlic has a great number of health benefits, and the red potatoes (skins on) offer more fiber, some vitamins & minerals in addition to the needed hardiness to the dish. With the addition of some butter, olive oil, salt, and pepper, we had a tasty, healthy dish the was filling.

We’ve dubbed Romanesco the alien vegetable due to it’s crazy look, but we all agree that this veggie is a yummy treat that we welcome into our diet.

So, how’d I create this rather green dish? The dish was created pretty much the same as the sauteed brussels sprouts except that I added in some roughly chopped cooked red potatoes that had been cooked in olive oil. I boiled the Romanesco florets for roughly 6 minutes – until they were tender. I served the Romanesco over the sauteed brussels sprout and potato mixture and then sprinkled with shredded raw cheddar cheese. Delicious!