Purple Sprouting Broccoli with Brown Butter and Hazelnuts

British seasonal purple sprouting broccoli with beurre noisette and toasted hazelnuts

Origin: England, Kingdom of Great Britain

From the journey of Broccoli.

Purple sprouting broccoli (with its loose, small purple heads harvested across late winter and early spring) is the variety most closely associated with British kitchen gardening. Philip Miller's Gardener's Dictionary (1724) introduced it to English horticultural knowledge as a seasonal delight arriving in the hungry gap when little else grows. Unlike the dense-headed Calabrese sold year-round in supermarkets, purple sprouting has a shorter, more delicate stem and an intensely sweet-bitter flavour that British food writers have long considered the finest brassica of the year.

Ingredients

  • 600 g purple sprouting broccoli
  • 70 g unsalted butter
  • 60 g blanched hazelnuts, roughly chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
  • 0.5 lemon
  • salt
  • black pepper

Method

  1. Toast the hazelnuts in a dry pan over medium heat, stirring frequently, until golden and fragrant, about 3–4 minutes. Set aside.
  2. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to boil: it should taste like the sea. Trim any woody ends from the purple sprouting broccoli.
  3. Blanch the broccoli for 2–3 minutes until just tender but the stems still have a slight bite. Drain well and arrange on a warm serving plate.
  4. In the same pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat, swirling continuously. Add the garlic slices. Cook until the butter is golden-brown, smells nutty, and the garlic is just golden, about 3 minutes.
  5. Immediately pour the brown butter and garlic over the broccoli. Scatter over the toasted hazelnuts. Season with salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice and a little zest. Serve immediately.

Notes

Purple sprouting broccoli is a seasonal British crop, typically available February through April. It turns green when cooked but retains its sweeter flavour. Tenderstem broccoli is a year-round substitute.

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