Broccolini

Eastside Road, Healdsburg, March 29, 2009

FOR A LONG TIME I thought the reason I didn't like broccoli more was because of various adventures with aphids, which hide out so successfully in the flowerets. It's one of the few problems with buying organic produce. I suppose I'd rather eat aphids than insecticide, but neither one really leaves a nice taste in your mouth.
Tonight Lindsey cooked up some Broccolini for our first course. Organic, to be sure: most of it bought in town, but one or two stalks from a friend's garden, where we'd been this afternoon moving two or three pickup-loads of horse manure.
Writing this has sent me once again to Wikipedia, which informs me that Broccolini is a registered trademark. Who'd have known? Tasting it tonight I was reminded of its seriousness and asperity, akin to cavalonero and kale. Broccoli's too sweet. It's probably been bred that way, for the American market. Broccolini's a vegetable for grown-ups. There's that sulfur undertone common to all the brassicas, but there's also a resiny component. I like it, and I think the aphids do not.

Chardonnay-Torrontés, Argentina, "Fuerzo"