Embrace practiculture with a grilled broccoli and sriracha salad
What is practiculture, we hear you ask? Rohan Anderson can tell you. Practiculture is a lifestyle choice of practical living – making daily choices based on their practical outcome. In his effort to live the simple life, Rohan stumbled across practiculture. Deciding to move away from his desk job and the conventional approach to living, Rohan has embraced a simpler life on the land, and developed his own principle of living. He does life’s tasks himself and carries that through to the way he sources and creates food for himself and his family by growing, hunting and foraging beautiful, healthy and sustainable food. A Year of Practiculture is Rohan’s second book after Whole Larder Love, and features 100 of his rustic, seasonal recipes, including this spring-inspired grilled broccoli and sriracha salad.
INGREDIENTS
2–3 broccoli heads, stems removed
1–2 tablespoons olive oil
5 large garlic cloves, sliced
100 g soft goats cheese or fetta
50–100 g slivered almonds
Green sriracha (see below), for drizzling
salt and pepper, to taste
Green Sriracha (makes about one litre)
1 kg jalapeno chillies, ends removed, seeds in
2 garlic bulbs, cloves separated and peeled
¼–½ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
TO MAKE
Green Sriracha
Blitz the chillies, garlic, sugar and salt in a food processor.
Transfer the mixture to sealed glass jars, then once a day for five to seven days, remove the lids to stir with a clean spoon.
Turn the mixture back out into the food processor and blitz again, this time adding the vinegar.
Strain through muslin (cheesecloth) into a saucepan, discarding the seeds and pulp.
Heat the strained sauce, add the xanthan gum and cook, stirring frequently until the sauce thickens. Pour into sterilised bottles and seal.
The sriracha will keep for a few months in the larder. Refrigerate after opening.
Salad
Blanch the broccoli for two minutes in boiling water then drain.
Heat a chargrill pan or barbecue hotplate to high and start to grill the broccoli – you may need to work in batches, depending on the size of your pan. The idea is to give the broccoli a bit of a burnt, charred feel. When the broccoli is cooked, transfer it to a large mixing bowl.
Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a frying pan over low heat and fry the garlic until golden.
Add the fried garlic, goats cheese and almonds to the broccoli, drizzle over some sriracha, season to taste, and toss well.
Grab a fork and tuck in!
This is an edited extract from A Year of Practiculture by Rohan Anderson, published by Hardie Grant Books.
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