Flowering Broccoli Served

Last Tuesday I went to the opening day of my neighborhood Carnation Farmers Market, a small town market in a long standing farming valley located in the Cascade foothills. In an area like Carnation, a farmers market could be an exercise in preaching to the choir because many of the residents who are not full time farmers still tend the valley’s rich moist soil in backyard gardens and grow much of the produce they eat.

The Carnation market not only is successful, it is straightforward and authentic. The volume for sellers is much smaller than the neighboring Bellevue, Redmond and Issaquah markets, so the farmers can bring in smaller quantities their best and often unusual products that other farmer-eaters don’t grow.

This week at the Oxbow Farm stall I found three different early spring flowering broccolis: purple, yellow and green. At first glance they look like Rappini, but they have thinner, longer stems and multiple tiny, delicate flowers on each stem.  They also are richly flavored without the bitterness of Rappini.

Of the three, the green is the mildest, the yellow is nuttier tasting and the purple hints of winter kale with richer and denser flavor than the other two. They all are tender and delicate but full flavored, as they are mature when they are picked.

With all this cool weather, spring flowering broccoli could be around for another week, but not much longer than that.

How to cook them? I steamed them for a minute or two, until they were slightly limp, drained off the extra moisture and sautéed them in olive oil with sliced garlic. A little salt, maybe a quick drizzle of fresh lemon juice and olive oil and they were ready for me to eat every single morsel on the plate.

I have not seen these flowering broccolis at any other farmers market. If you want to try them, contact Oxbow Farm and see if they will be available this week.