What The Hell Is Romanesco?

Today I’m going to introduce you to Romanesco.

Huh? WTF???

Wait, I’m sorry… You were imagining someone about to hand you a glass of wine, right? My bad. Romanesco is not wine.

I am guessing you probably were not picturing this weird, fractal, alien vegetable thing… Were you?

Boasting impressive and mesmerizing with endless spirals of chartreuse green, Romanesco is a member of the Brassica family, of which also includes Cabbage, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts and Cauliflower.

“I’ve never tried Romanesco before!”  “Isn’t it awesome looking?” I gleefully shouted off to the lady in the store next to me… And by the way, I almost convinced her to buy one too, but she said she just wasn’t feeling super adventurous this week.

As soon as I got it home, I broke a piece off and inspected it, smelled it, tasted it raw. To me it looked nearly identical on the inside as a Cauliflower.  Smelled like cauliflower, tasted like cauliflower. Just looked weird.

So I cooked a little up in the way I do cauliflower – with  pieces of ham and a little chicken broth. Because that’s how my Grandma cooked Cauliflower. So there you go.

I also tried it raw, dipped in french onion dip.  It’s the way I like to snack on cauliflower.

The Romanesco became a side dish for my dinner that evening, along with roasted chicken thighs and some leftover potatoes from the night before. It was an easy week-night dinner.

Interestingly, the Romanesco was on sale that day for $0.99 cents per head.  A head of Cauliflower that same day was on “sale” for $3.99.  In hindsight, I wish I’d bought a few more of the Romanesco.

Would I buy it again? Absolutely! But only if its less expensive than Cauliflower, or I need something weird looking to add to a tray of vegetables and dip. I really did like it.

I’m going to challenge you to “change it up” this month and try a new vegetable or food you haven’t yet tried before. You might discover something you love – you might not.  But at least you will have tried, right? ~A

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