PURPLE SPROUTING BROCCOLI AND ROASTED GARLIC

I think I have done more cooking this week than I have in the entire last month. Now I am back into it, I am enjoying it again - I find it very therapeutic. On Sunday it was roast day and I decided to cook my Roast Leg of Lamb which is stuffed with anchovies, garlic and rosemary (I didn't tell my daughter that part) along side this broccoli. I much prefer vegetables cooked with a little something extra than plain, and these took about 40-45 minutes to cook.

Ingredients for 8 people:

4 whole bulbs of garlic
145g Parmesan, grated
30g anchovies
1tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp honey
260g creme fraiche
500g purple sprouting broccoli, woody ends trimmed

Preheat the oven to 200 C fan / 220 C.

Slice the tops off the garlics and then wrap the bulbs in tin foil. Place on a baking tray and roast for 35 minutes until soft.

Squeeze the softened garlic from the casings into a food processor and blitz with 45g of Parmesan and the anchovies. It is meant to resemble a fine paste - mine certainly didn't!

Add the vinegar, honey and creme fraiche and blitz again. If you need to, add a dash of hot water. I didn't and thankfully all the ingredients came together.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the broccoli for around 3 minutes - it's good for the vegetables to have a bit of a bite. Drain the broccoli, stir through the sauce and then sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan. As my husband Pascal doesn't really like sauce, I only mixed half of it with the broccoli and I kept the rest as a sauce for the lamb however it is entirely up to you.

This worked surprisingly well - I was amazed as I have to admit when I was making the sauce I was pretty dubious. Even Pascal was a huge fan. It is a great way to spruce up simple broccoli, it went brilliantly with lamb and I am sure would work well with a nice white fish. My only complaint is, with all that garlic, it doesn't do your breath any favours!!!

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