Despite its unflattering name, purple sprouting broccoli has a glamour about it. With deep green leaves that peel back to reveal those purple heads, supported elegantly by long, slim stems, it stands out against the backdrop of the now sagging, old-season roots, tubers, and endless cabbages.

However you're planning to eat it, seek out stems that snap with freshness, rather than bend under pressure. In most cases you'll want to blanch it in salted boiling water for a minute or two first.

Its flavour and texture is good enough to eat just so, in your fingers with hollandaise, like asparagus. Or, to enjoy it cold as a crunchy salad, blanch, then plunge into cold water so that it retains its colour and crunch and drain thoroughly. Now dress with six anchovy fillets blended with 100ml of single cream and one tablespoon of white wine vinegar, either drizzled over the top or used as a dipping sauce.

To turn into an easy pasta sauce, fry finely chopped fresh chilli, garlic and anchovy in olive oil, then add some roughly chopped, blanched purple sprouting broccoli and turn well in the flavoured oil - you could add some cream here if you like - cover and simmer for a couple of minutes, then toss, most authentically with orechiette pasta, and grate over plenty of Parmesan, seasoning to taste.

For a real down-home treat for two, fry a couple of cloves of chopped garlic, half a teaspoon of hot chilli flakes and a teaspoon of pounded fennel seeds fiercely in olive oil until golden. Squeeze 400g of best sausages (about six) out of their skins and break up into mince, frying long enough on each side that they are properly coloured, with crispy bits. Now add the same weight of roughly chopped, blanched purple sprouting broccoli and turn in the mixture for a couple of minutes. Divide between two plates and eat with crusty bread to mop up the fragrant juices.

Simplest of all, but still delicious, make purple sprouting broccoli cheese, substituting it for cauliflower and crumbling blue cheese into the béchamel before baking until golden.

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