Roast purple sprouting broccoli with smashed white beans, rosemary, onions, chilli and toasted seeds

Roast purple sprouting broccoli with smashed white beans, rosemary, onions, chilli and toasted seeds

Winter

I tend to associate particular ingredients with certain months of the year. April brings asparagus and wild morels, June smells of elderflower and gooseberries, while August means tomatoes and blackberries from the hedgerows. February and March, though, can feel a little sparse in the vegetable garden. Just when winter seems to have gone on long enough, along comes purple sprouting broccoli. With its slender green stems and deep purple florets, it’s a welcome sight on the greengrocer’s shelf. It’s full of flavour too, sweeter and more interesting than regular broccoli. Roasting it brings out its nuttiness, which works beautifully with soft onions and creamy white beans.

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • About 400g bright fresh purple sprouting broccoli
  • 2 medium red onions
  • 2 tins butter beans, drained
  • 1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
  • 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
  • 2 good pinches chilli flakes
  • 300ml vegetable stock
  • 4 Tbls olive oil, plus extra for trickling
  • 2 sprigs rosemary
  • 1 Tbls sunflower seeds
  • 1 Tbls pumpkin seeds
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Juice of half a lemon

Method

Preheat the oven to 190C fan, 210C conventional.

Set a large heavy based pan over a medium high heat. Add 2 Tbls of the olive oil followed by the sliced onion, garlic, one pinch of chilli flakes, the rosemary and plenty of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring regularly, until the onions are soft and turning golden around the edges.

Add the beans, stir well and cook for a further 8 to 10 minutes. Pour in the vegetable stock and bring everything to a simmer. After 8 to 10 minutes gently crush the beans with a potato masher or briefly blitz them with a stick blender. You’re aiming for a creamy but still slightly coarse texture. Taste and adjust the seasoning and, if needed, loosen with a little more stock so the beans are soft and spoonable. Keep warm.

Meanwhile peel the red onions and cut each into 8 to 10 wedges. Scatter them over a large baking tray, season well with salt and pepper and trickle over 1 Tbls of olive oil. Tumble everything together to coat.

Place the tray in the oven and roast, turning once or twice, for about 25 minutes until the onions are soft and beginning to caramelise.

Trim away any tough ends from the broccoli spears and lay the tender stems over and around the onions on the tray. Season with salt and pepper, scatter over the sunflower and pumpkin seeds and the remaining chilli flakes, then trickle over the remaining olive oil.

Return the tray to the oven and roast for 20 to 25 minutes, turning once or twice, until the thickest part of the broccoli stem is tender.

To serve, spoon the warm smashed beans over a large platter. Arrange the roasted broccoli and onions on top along with all the toasted seeds. Squeeze over the lemon juice and serve straight away.

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