Both Earl and my spellchecker shake their respective heads when I purchase broccoflower at the supermarket. Earl winces because he can’t imagine a vegetable that combines the tastes of broccoli and cauliflower when he abhors both. The spellchecker is simply confused.
But I love broccoflower, and it is hard to come by. So whenever I see it in the produce department, I snatch it up, take it home, and smell up the house with its cooking odor. If we owned one, Earl would wear a clothespin to the dinner table.
Which leads me to wonder what other combo-veggies might be on the horizon.
What about asparasprouts? They would be the green of their two parents, asparagus and Brussels sprouts, and have the strong taste of both. I see them served cold with a mild vinaigrette dressing and sesame seed. Or rutamatoes, a derivative of rutabaga and tomatoes. It would be pale pink, have no seeds, and be easy to peel. You would mash it, as you do potatoes, and then serve it as an accompaniment for pork.
Or maybe eggini, an offspring of eggplant and zucchini. Served a la parmesan, it would be delicious. . . and healthy. And what about parsnipoli? You guessed it; parsnips and broccoli. Or lima corn as a replacement for succotash?
The ideas are endless and don’t even have to stop with pairing two vegetables. We could combine a vegetable that doesn’t have broad appeal with a cookie recipe that does. Or a vegetable with a pie or a cake. So in the future, I look forward to tasting broccoleach pie or avocado chip cookies.
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