What the Fractal?!

Romanesco is one of those beautiful foods with self-repeating shapes (fractals) that appear as if they are only possible to make by some complicated logarithm on a computer and the spirals do in fact follow the Fibonacci sequence--total nerd stuff here. I picked up a head of romanesco yesterday at the natural foods store because they had it discounted to .99 €/ea. Romanesco is not in season until the fall here and so, was imported, though I can't figure out where from. It would come up with other cabbage/brassica crops in autumn. You can basically make this the way you make cauliflower or broccoli. Oh and by the way, Germans call it Pyramidenblumenkohl (pyramid cauliflower). 

Here's a how I made it: 

the Great (steamed) Pyramids
* cut florets off stem and then chop stem
* steam it all up for max 10 minutes to keep it firm
* add a little EVOO + balsamic + sauteed garlic + grated hard cheese (peccorino, romano, parmesan)
* spice it up 
* serve on a bed of pasta if you like

Other people are Romo-ing it up like this: 

cheesy romanesco
* cut and steam romanesco
* meanwhile heat milk, cornmeal, mustard + spices in sauce pan and whisk
* in 2 minutes add cheese of choice
* salt + pepper
* pour over drained romanesco

rosemary + lemon + pecorino romanesco
* steam romanesco
* sautee rosmary + grated garlic in a pan
* after a minute add lemon zest
* remove from pan and add lemon juice
* toss romanesco in sauce
* top with pecorino


Events:

Showdown between the People and Monsanto! Here's link that describes the fight for US citizens to mandate GMO foods be labeled. There's even an Occupy Monsanto movement going on all over the world on May 25th so find one and stand-up against Monsanto if you can!Don't forget, we can all stand up against Monsanto everyday by buying organic!! Marches are listed on the Occupy Monsanto website. And as the Germans say, press your thumbs for good luck!

And, just in case you were wondering, here's my office for the next 3 weeks: