GARDEN FRESH : Broccoli, Cauliflower and What’s In Between

I’ve seen siblings who looked so much alike it was difficult to tell them apart. What name, please, for the one with the rosy cheeks? And you, with the teeny curls? Who’s the tyke in a peaky gold cap?

I know another family like that. The venerable cabbages. Some of the kids love to dress up. Get them in violet and burgundy, chartreuse and lime green, and no one knows whether they’re broccoli or cauliflower. Even the people who raise them squabble over their names.

Botanically, broccoli and cauliflower are siblings--maybe even fraternal twins. Both are bouquets of unopened flowers. Seen under a lens, broccoli’s florets are a field of wee green crocuses; cauliflower’s are clusters of dainty, blurry stars.

There’s an intermediate lime-green variety regarded by many as having a flavor between cauliflower and broccoli. Someone has named it broccoflower (may such a word never cross our lips). The flavor is cauliflower’s vaguely cabbagey taste but with a richer nutty undertone; the florets have a softer texture, more like broccoli. Probably the smallish green heads wrapped in cellophane at the supermarket are the broccoli/cauliflower variety called Alverda.

But there’s another, more exciting bright-green whatever-you-call-it that is sometimes at the market. It’s Romanesco, a spiral swirl of dozens of small-faceted peaks, each peak consisting of its own swirl of small-faceted peaks. Without leaves, this might be the green-gold helmet of an extraterrestrial or a creature from a green coral’d sea.

Some say Romanesco is a heritage Italian cauliflower; others say it’s a heritage Italian broccoli. In fact, Romanesco is as generic a name as zucchini, and after all these years, you can be sure the strains are as variable in quality as zucchini’s. So when a catalogue offers Romanesco, be sure the seedsman has an impeccable reputation.

I’ve grown a Romanesco cultivar named Minaret instead. The heads are smaller than the sometimes huge generics. They’re as big as my hand, with exquisite detailing in the peaks, and the flavor is even nuttier than broccoli/cauliflower.

While chartreuse heads keep their color when cooked, the purple cultivars, like purple snap beans, slip into something light green in hot water. Some call these purple varieties cauliflower; others call them broccoli. Violet Queen is the cultivar most offered, and I’ve found it delightful in the garden, but if you live in a hot climate, see whether you can find Burgundy Queen--it’s more heat-tolerant. These purple types taste like cauliflower but the tiny buds are furled like broccoli’s.

Growing cauliflower, broccoli/cauliflower or broccoli is demanding. They all need cool weather, plentiful moisture, fertile soil and constant vigilance against pests and disease. What the colorful sorts don’t need is protection from light.

In its natural state, exposed to sunshine and the elements, ordinary cauliflower doesn’t ripen white but something between khaki and beige. To get snowy “curds,” the heads must be blanched. That means someone must wrap a couple of each plant’s large leaves over the head and tie them, and make sure the leaves don’t come loose in the season. But the best part about the green and violet varieties of cauliflower is that you don’t have to cover them from the sun. Light actually enhances their lovely color.

If you’re up to the challenge, plant chartreuse cultivars for both early spring and late-fall harvests. In mild areas of Southern California, sow and plant chartreuse broccoli/cauliflower cultivars now through February, to get an early spring crop. Where winters are cold, sow seeds indoors six to eight weeks before the last expected frost and set out plants in the garden two weeks before then.

Purple cultivars, however, are best planted later, for autumn harvest. It takes cold to brighten their hue; hot weather turns the curds muddy red.

All these plants are happiest along the coast; plants may be iffy where summers are hot. But try. In hot climates, sow seeds of both chartreuse and purple cultivars indoors in late July for October harvest. Once they’ve germinated, set the flat outdoors in the shade (with a wire netting cover to protect them from “those that would eat them”). When seedlings have three leaves, move them into the bright light of high shade. When they have six leaves, plant them, ideally with just bright shade in the afternoon. Spray with weak fish emulsion or manure tea every few days and don’t stint on water. For a worthwhile crop, they must be going strong by Labor Day.

A chartreuse or violet cauliflower/broccoli, especially if you’ve grown it yourself, is a wondrous thing, and you’ll want to prepare it wonderfully. Since these rare creatures taste like cauliflower, that’s the way I approach their seasoning. Cauliflower’s flavor has a nutty quality, but it verges on blandness. I treat it not quite as a blank canvas, but as a canvas brushed with pale strokes. I’m bound to preserve those strokes, but I want to give the painting verve as well.

Of course, these flashy greens and soft burgundies are the sensation of a crudite basket. I find few appetizers more rousing to the appetite than a brilliant arrangement of vegetables in season--not trimmed, not peeled, but just as Mother Nature gave them to us. These fall days there are ravishing beets, sensuous snap beans, nubbins of Brussels sprouts, juicy scallions and carrots and fennel, dear little radishes, purplish turnips, plump mushrooms and still California peppers in dashing colors.

Set them around a dipping bowl of sauce verte --mayonnaise (or half mayonnaise, half yogurt) verdant with minced raw leaves of spinach, parsley, chervil, chives and tarragon. Garnish with chrysanthemum flowers and leaves.

If you have several harvests, after the first goes into your crudite basket, cook the second in the microwave or steam it. I’ve found the best way to preserve their color and texture is steaming them in the microwave.

To microwave a 1- to 1 1/4-pound cauliflower or cauliflower/broccoli perfectly, cut off the stalk at the point where slender stems of florets begin sprouting. (Serve the stalk as another vegetable; coarsely chop the stem and leaves and steam until tender, but not in the microwave--somehow the microwave turns the leaves to rags.) Put the head in a deep six- to eight-cup microwave-proof dish that just fits. Add one tablespoon of water and cover tightly with its lid or a microwave-proof plate. Cook on full power until tender but with an edge of crispness, seven to 12 minutes, giving the dish a quarter turn after about four minutes.

A larger head is best cut into florets with tender stalks and microwaved in a single layer in a dish the same way. For more than a pound, start checking after nine minutes. You can also cook the whole head in a steamer, but it takes three times as long, and the chartreuse color washes out dismayingly.

Present the crown on a bed of its own leaves--raw, since they unfortunately turn dull when cooked. Dribble a little hot fruity olive oil or melted sweet butter on, sprinkle with lemon juice, and perhaps strew sauteed slivers of almond or fat capers here and there. Next, I think you’ll be pleased with my red onion sauce for the green curds. After that, why not a bright and fast stir-fry of florets with garlic, lemon zest and bay shrimp?

Until recently, everybody (well, almost everybody) looked at cauliflower in seed catalogues and market bins and said, “Ho hum.” Today, if I were cauliflower, I’d be laughing, because cauliflower has turned out to be one of the most valuable vegetables for inhibiting disease. The same, of course, is true for broccoli.

So when they come in bright colors, does it matter what their names are? We can just bring our mystery guests into the kitchen and be grateful for their beauty and the goodness they contribute to our lives.

Sources

Fresh--Chartreuse broccoli/cauliflower is in many supermarkets, sometimes even the Romanesco type. Look for violet heads in farmers’ markets.

Seeds--Romanesco (under broccoli): Shepherd’s Garden Seeds, 6116 Highway 9, Felton, Calif. 95018.

For others mentioned, and helpful growing details: Johnny’s, Foss Hill Road, Albion, Me. 04910-9731.

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It’s always fun to improvise in the kitchen. Last night, next to my chartreuse cauliflower was half a big red onion in the refrigerator, and a lovely chunk of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. I’d planned to finish the sauce with lemon juice, but--one must plan ahead--the cupboard was bare. There was an orange, so in went its juice. I was happy, and so was the cauliflower.

Against the mildly cabbagey cauliflower, the flavors were orange-sweet, cheese-salty, piney-warm and chile-hot. The colors were muted green and shades of garnet from pale to deep. Such liveliness was splendid with grilled halibut and basmati rice to catch the sauce. In fact, setting the cauliflower on the rice made a mouth-watering presentation--for company, two or three crowns on a bed of rice would be stunning. Dessert was icy Tokay grapes, echoing the ruby of the onions.

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CHARTREUSE BROCCOLI-CAULIFLOWER WITH RED ONION SAUCE

1 (1- to 1 1/4-pound) head green, purple or white broccoli-cauliflower Water 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 large red onion, thinly sliced, then chopped 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1/4 teaspoon crumbled dried red chile pod, seeded 1/4 cup fresh orange juice 2 tablespoons pine nuts, roasted in dry skillet until lightly browned Salt Few small broccoli-cauliflower leaves 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Trim stalk from broccoli-cauliflower head below florets so head sits level. To microwave, place head in close-fitting deep 6- to 8-cup microwave-proof dish, add 1 tablespoon water, cover tightly and microwave on HIGH until just tender, 7 to 12 minutes, giving 1/4 turn after 4 minutes. To steam, place in steamer over boiling water 20 to 30 minutes.

While broccoli-cauliflower is cooking, heat oil in large, heavy skillet, preferably nonstick. Add onion and saute over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until nearly tender, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and saute 2 minutes more. Stir in chile, orange juice and pine nuts and heat through. Remove from heat. Season to taste with salt.

Set cauliflower on heated platter or bed of rice and tuck few leaves under head. Spoon sauce over top. Slice in wedges. Pass Parmesan cheese separately. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

162 calories; 206 mg sodium; 5 mg cholesterol; 11 grams fat; 12 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams protein; 1.27 grams fiber.