Thyme Buttered Romanesco

This week seems to be the week of crazy vegetables.  Last week a Red Kuri Squash.  And now this week?  THIS crazy looking vegetable.  Have you seen one of these before?  It looks like something from the Jurassic period.  Of course, due solely to the fact that this was by far, the craziest and weirdest vegetable I’ve ever seen in my entire life…I bought it.

It’s like broccoli and cauliflower had a a freaky child.  Similar flavor and texture to cauliflower.  Just not as potent.  I looked it up online to figure out what family of vegetable it came from.  And all I got was that it’s one of the only edible plant fractals.  Yea…didn’t know what that was.  Some type of mathematic, logarithmic repeating pattern, with patterns repeating within the pattern itself.  And on top of that the number of points on this nutsy veggie is a Fibonacci number.  Isn’t that something from one of those  secret society/Da Vinci code things?

Geesh…I thought I was just looking up a vegetable.  But they lost me after repeating, repeating patterns and Fibonacci numbers.  I just like to eat.  Not do math.  And eat I did!  I steamed the romanesco and drizzled on a thyme butter sauce.  Still slightly crunchy (don’t like mushy veggies), buttery, salty and just a hint of the thyme!  It was the perfect quick side dish!

I’m so glad I picked up a few heads of romanesco.  It was fun looking it up and experimenting with something new!  It’s always inspiring and exciting working with unique or heirloom variety produce.  And this romanesco was definitely that!  If you see it in the grocery store or at a farmers market, I encourage you to buy it!  As strange as it appears, it’s actually quite delicious!  Try this simple recipe!  Or even roasting it would be good too!  I hope you enjoy!

Thyme Buttered Romanesco:
Ingredients:

• 2 lbs romanesco, cut into florets
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp thyme, chopped
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp salt

Instructions:

1. Bring a pot of water to boil – you can boil/blanch or use a steamer basket over a few inches of water to steam romanesco.  Place florets into pot and cover.  Steam from 3-7 minutes depending on desired doneness.  Check a few times throughout the steaming process with fork to check.
2. While romanesco steams, make butter sauce.  Combine butter, olive oil and thyme in a small sauté pan.  Heat over medium and cook until butter is melted and thyme is fragrant.
3. Drain romanesco and return to pot.  Drizzle over butter sauce, pepper and salt.  Toss to combine.  Taste and adjust for seasonings.  Serve immediately!