Spring announces itself with an alternating slow and sudden greening of the world. Life begins to get lighter and more colorful. Dinner follows suit with dishes like Pizza Cali from the Run Fast, Cook Fast, Eat Slow cookbook. Did I ruin pizza with broccoli? Not at all. Broccoli was redeemed via pizza.
One of my favorite people used to rank broccoli towards the top of the list of “Offensive Green Things.” Two recipes changed that. The first was Broccoli Chevre Soup. The second was Pizza Cali. (Both recipes come from the same cookbook author). Pizza Cali looks like a St. Patrick’s Day parade on a pizza crust. Its stars are basil pesto, broccoli, zucchini and feta cheese. The bright, savory flavors of the sauce and cheese combined with the broccoli roasting as the pizza cooks work together to override the broccoli’s “offensive” bitterness, without sacrificing its crunchiness.
Sometimes it simply takes a different preparation method to change a food from unpalatable to delicious.
