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Roasted purple sprouting broccoli

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​High above the snow, broccoli is still sprouting a tasty crop of purple goodness. Stir frying or steaming is the most commonly used cooking option for this brassica, but this super simple oven cooked version brings a rich tenderness to tougher stems. 

Ingredients:
Purple sprouting broccoli
Garlic
Salt and black pepper

Method:
Cut the stems as long as you can, leaving the heads intact and place in a baking dish with a little sliced garlic and enough vegetable or chicken stock to almost cover the stems. Cover with a tight lid or foil.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until soft. The colour will darken, but this is one way of bringing out the sweetness of a slightly more mature plant. 

Purple sprouting broccoli weathering a cold snap. Net it to keep Warriston's battlion of brassica shredding wood pigeons at bay
Photo: NM

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