Broccoli, Blue Cheese and Walnut Pesto – You don’t know what you’re missing George!

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This dish was inspired by former President of the United States, George W Bush, who had this to say about a much maligned vegetable: “I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.” So there!

Well, George, I didn’t like broccoli either. I didn’t like it when I was a little kid and my mother grew it and made me eat it. While we could coax the cat to eat most things our finicky palates rejected, it could not be persuaded to hoover up our unwanted broccoli and so we had to suffer it. Now I’m a grown up, I actually love broccoli.

It takes mere minutes to turn what could be a so-so side dish into the main attraction. George, you don’t know what you are missing!

A delicious meal in minutes - hey pesto!

For 4 – 6 servings of pesto you will need...

125g broccoli, broken into florets

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

50g walnuts, toasted in a dry frying pan over a low heat

50g mild blue cheese such as Cashel Blue, or Bleu d'Auvergne

5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives

¼ tablespoon freshly ground black pepper 

1                    Cook the broccoli in boiling salted water for about 6 minutes until just tender. A knife should easily pierce the stems when cooked. Remove from the heat, drain and stir in the crushed garlic. Leave to cool.

2                    When the broccoli has cooled, place it in a food processor along with all the other ingredients. Process until you have a smooth, slightly grainy paste. And that’s it – hey pesto! (I haven't specified salt in the ingredient list as the cheese can be quite salty so taste the mixture and only add salt if necessary.) This will keep, covered, in the fridge for 3 or 4 days.

To serve, simply prepare tagliatelle or other pasta according to the instructions on the packet. When cooked, drain and return to the cooking pot along with 2 – 3 tablespoons of the pesto per person. Toss the pasta so that it is coated with the pesto. Serve immediately.

The End!

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Saintly Cauliflower Soup – with Blue Cheese and Prosciutto Sinners

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Sometimes stuff doesn’t make sense to me, like the greengrocer explaining I could have two cauliflowers or none, when I wanted just one.  It was a ‘take it or leave it’ situation, but what’s a girl to do with two cauliflowers? Everyone to whom I offered the spare had already either been to the shop and either purchased two or temporarily sworn off cauliflower in protest at having a brace of anaemic brassicas foisted upon them.

Too much of a good thing?

One cauliflower was dispatched into a relatively saintly, healthy New Year’s resolution soup which I topped with sinful blue cheese and prosciutto croutons. One cauliflower down, one to go. Got any ideas?

For 6 - 8 servings you will need...

25g butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 stick celery, peeled of stringy bits, roughly chopped

200mls dry white wine

600g cauliflower broken into florets

900mls good quality chicken stock (homemade if possible)

¼ teaspoon ground white pepper

1 clove garlic, peeled

Salt and ground white pepper to taste

1           Melt the butter and olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the onion and celery. Lower the heat and fry gently for about 5 minutes until onion is soft and translucent but has not taken on any colour. Add the wine and let simmer until the liquid has reduced by half.

2          Add cauliflower and chicken stock to the saucepan (you could use vegetarian stock if you prefer). When it has come to the boil, lower the heat, add the clove of garlic and ground white pepper, cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Blend to a smooth liquid – a stick blender is the perfect tool for this. Taste and add salt and more white pepper only if necessary. The soup is pretty saintly so far. Be a devil and add these sinful croutons.

Blue cheese and prosciutto sinners!

Croutons

4 slices French bread, each about 1cm thick, cut into cubes

2 tablespoons olive oil

20g blue cheese, crumbled

20g prosciutto, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 180°C  

(War on Waste note: I try to make these croutons when I have something else baking in the oven to avoid using a whole heap of energy for a few croutons)

3          Place the croutons in a bowl and drizzle with the olive oil. Sprinkle with the blue cheese and prosciutto pieces. Scatter on a shallow baking tray and bake for about 5 minutes or until golden and the cheese has melted. Set a timer and keep an eye on them because they go from golden to charcoal in a flash.

Instead of the croutons you could add a swirl of fresh cream, or sprinkle with a little crumbled blue cheese before serving.

p.s. If you enjoy reading Alchemy in the Kitchen please consider nominating it for the Bloggies!

Click the link before Monday 16th January - http://2012.bloggi.es/ - and scroll down to the Food or Writing sections - depending on which aspect you like best and nominate Alchemy as follows:

Nominee: Alchemy in the Kitchen     URL: www.alchemyinthekitchen.ie

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