How to make purple sprouting broccoli with blood orange, olives and burrata

The blood orange season is short and sweet and almost over. It’s a mad race to the market to scoop up as many as you can before they’re gone.

Clever cooks will make a batch of blood orange marmalade, to extend the season and serve as a reminder that winter isn’t just root vegetables.

While blood oranges are on their way out, purple sprouting broccoli is in.

It has a short season too so don’t linger. Paired together, you have a winning combination.

If you can’t find blood oranges, then by all means use a regular orange with lots of juice.

Burrata – a soft, creamy, fresh Italian cheese – balances the slightly bitter vegetable and the acid of the orange.

You could instead use buffalo mozzarella or a soft, crumbly goat’s cheese.

Or skip the cheese altogether for a vegan dish. The purple sprouting broccoli and blood oranges are the stars – they’re not here for long, so let them shine while they are.

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Serves 4 as a side dish

300g purple sprouting broccoli
1 blood orange (or regular orange)
1 ball of burrata, about 150g
75g black olives with pits, 60g pitted 
2 tbsp blood orange juice/white wine or balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt

Trim the ends off the purple sprouting broccoli and slice thicker stalks in half lengthwise. If the stems are woody, then take a vegetable peeler and remove the outer skin. Bring a large pot of water to the boil.

While the water is heating, peel the blood orange, removing all of the pitch. Make “V” shape incisions to release the orange segments. Do this over a small bowl so you can capture any juice. Squeeze the pitch to extract any remaining juice. In a separate bowl, measure the juice. You want two tablespoons of acid, so top up the juice as needed with vinegar. Whisk in the olive oil, taste and season with salt and black pepper.

Pit the olives and set aside with the dressing, blood orange segments and burrata. When the water is boiling, salt and blanch the purple sprouting broccoli for just a few minutes, until a stem is tender enough to bite.

Drain and place the purple sprouting broccoli on a serving plate. Place the burrata in the centre and gently prise it open. Add the blood orange segments and black olives and drizzle over with the blood orange vinaigrette. Serve warm.

@juliapleonard