This easy pasta is made with a broccoli "pesto" that's basically a one-pot meal! Can be made with ingredients that you likely have on hand, and the result is a hearty bowl of vibrant green, vegetable-friendly pasta. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.
Change of subject but your and Parisien's thoughts on the Seine being prepped to hold Olympic swimming/ water events would be of interest to me, and am sure, others.
My hubby gave this 3 thumbs up. Delicious. Definitely in regular rotation.
(Funny enough I happened upon a similar recipe prior to this posting & thought it sounded good. And then coincidentally, you posted this recipe. Of course yours is superior. Thank-you, David)
My husband James worked at Le Madri restaurant in NYC in the 90s, and they had a dish called Penne alla Pugliese that we adapted at home and called “overcooked broccoli sauce.” Just broccoli (with stems), garlic, olive oil, crushed red pepper, pecorino. I will have to try your additional anchovies and lemon, yum!
There is a very similar recipe in the Rogers Gray Italian Country Cookbook that also uses anchovies with broccoli. It’s quite authentic too as I ate it at a small trattoria in Tuscany served with orecchiette. Memorable!!
I find that Red Boat Fish Sauce – made exclusively from anchovies – is a handy way of adding umami, less messy and easier to calibrate than anchovies from a jar, or anchovy paste.
I use their Red Boat salt, which is excellent too, but their products aren't readily available in France, although I have a decent size stash of them ; )
This sounds delicious. As to the crisp vegetables, in our family's cooking, many vegetables were cooked until soft deliberately because they were cooked on the stove for a few hours, or to save time, in a pressure cooker: green beans, ham and potatoes, various greens cooked way down with "pot likker", etc. When kale went popular, friends and family rolled our eyes at barely sauteing it. To me, that is a different recipe to eat it crispier, not "the way" as someone told me once. I have learned to cook vegetables differently but to this day do not like crisp green beans most times. And I probably tend to cook my broccoli a bit more than most, even in stir fries. I do not like beans and broccoli that "squeak" when you eat it, lol. On the broccoli stems, I often used them. It seemed like such a waste not to! I often blanch them and throw in the freezer. I was surprised to start reading about how people never used the stems. Thanks for another great column.
My mother-in-law, from the Midwest, introduced me to long-cooked green beans 40+ years ago. I was shocked by how much more flavor they had than the barely-blanched green beans I was used to eating. Long-cooked green beans became a secret treat, never served to guests. Even now, I think most of our friends would … blanch… if we presented a platter of limp and pale beans to them.
Hi David, on the subject of garlic, the Woks of Life folks just published a comprehensive article on garlic on their website the other day. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but it goes into various techniques for cutting, prepping, cooking techniques. They mention which techniques to use for various dishes.
The cookbooks that I use the most tend to use similar unusual ingredients. For example, Ottolenghi likes black garlic which is not everywhere, but having bought it once, I can use it in a number of recipes. Similarly, Sunday Suppers at Lucques -- a favorite dinner party cookbook-- has a relatively narrow selection of herbs and dried chilis so I am not buying a jar of something that proceeds to go stale in the cabinet. I often shy away from Cook's Illustrated or Christopher Kimball for the need to shop for an hour to make a 30 minute dish.
In Sunday Suppers there’s a recipe for gnocchi with chanterelles and fresh corn that is simply divine. As soon as chanterelles appear at the market I start making it once a week. For that recipe alone, Sunday Suppers is worth the price, although I have other Lucques favorites as well.
I always have frozen garlic cubes from Trader Joe on hand. I realize fresh garlic is preferable, but the frozen cubes are easy to pop into a dish. I add them at the beginning so the garlic flavor doesn’t overwhelm a dish.
I've come around on some shortcuts when cooking, partially because I was getting shamed for not making everything from my own pita bread to squeezing my own coconut milk, as well as having a frozen pizza every once in a while. (A post-pandemic habit we picked up from the lockdown, when all bets were off. Which can be very good if doctored up with chorizo, fresh basil, and/or Calabrian chiles, and baking them longer than the package says to.) Someone once gave me a hard time online for baking one, telling me pizza dough was very easy to make...which I told them I knew from making it at Chez Panisse. 😉
I've never used pre-chopped or pre-peeled garlic (and never saw it frozen) but I'm pretty sure it would take a keen palate to taste the difference in a pot of soup or braised chicken.
I makes French style puréed soups a lot. I don’t want them to taste too garlicky so I add the garlic cube when I am initially sweating the base vegetables. I’m betting they exist in France at Aldi or the shops that specialize in good quality frozen food.
I didn’t have anchovies (to my surprise), so added some tuna. Turned out great!
Change of subject but your and Parisien's thoughts on the Seine being prepped to hold Olympic swimming/ water events would be of interest to me, and am sure, others.
My hubby gave this 3 thumbs up. Delicious. Definitely in regular rotation.
(Funny enough I happened upon a similar recipe prior to this posting & thought it sounded good. And then coincidentally, you posted this recipe. Of course yours is superior. Thank-you, David)
Thank you David! I made this recipe for dinner and it’s definitely a keeper!
glad you liked it!
My husband James worked at Le Madri restaurant in NYC in the 90s, and they had a dish called Penne alla Pugliese that we adapted at home and called “overcooked broccoli sauce.” Just broccoli (with stems), garlic, olive oil, crushed red pepper, pecorino. I will have to try your additional anchovies and lemon, yum!
There is a very similar recipe in the Rogers Gray Italian Country Cookbook that also uses anchovies with broccoli. It’s quite authentic too as I ate it at a small trattoria in Tuscany served with orecchiette. Memorable!!
This is on my menu for a dinner this week. Thank you!
I make a baked ratatouille with a jar of chilli and olive sauce which I serve with pasta and this pesto would be nice drizzled Over the top!!
This sounds incredible. Need to make it soon. 🙏
Well said David, 'sometimes I just want to make dinner tonite'.
applause!!! Slice the garlic!!!!! I also made the pesto with Broccoli Rab. Agree the addition of the anchovies adds flavor.
I find that Red Boat Fish Sauce – made exclusively from anchovies – is a handy way of adding umami, less messy and easier to calibrate than anchovies from a jar, or anchovy paste.
I use their Red Boat salt, which is excellent too, but their products aren't readily available in France, although I have a decent size stash of them ; )
This sounds delicious. As to the crisp vegetables, in our family's cooking, many vegetables were cooked until soft deliberately because they were cooked on the stove for a few hours, or to save time, in a pressure cooker: green beans, ham and potatoes, various greens cooked way down with "pot likker", etc. When kale went popular, friends and family rolled our eyes at barely sauteing it. To me, that is a different recipe to eat it crispier, not "the way" as someone told me once. I have learned to cook vegetables differently but to this day do not like crisp green beans most times. And I probably tend to cook my broccoli a bit more than most, even in stir fries. I do not like beans and broccoli that "squeak" when you eat it, lol. On the broccoli stems, I often used them. It seemed like such a waste not to! I often blanch them and throw in the freezer. I was surprised to start reading about how people never used the stems. Thanks for another great column.
My mother-in-law, from the Midwest, introduced me to long-cooked green beans 40+ years ago. I was shocked by how much more flavor they had than the barely-blanched green beans I was used to eating. Long-cooked green beans became a secret treat, never served to guests. Even now, I think most of our friends would … blanch… if we presented a platter of limp and pale beans to them.
Hi David, on the subject of garlic, the Woks of Life folks just published a comprehensive article on garlic on their website the other day. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but it goes into various techniques for cutting, prepping, cooking techniques. They mention which techniques to use for various dishes.
🥰
The cookbooks that I use the most tend to use similar unusual ingredients. For example, Ottolenghi likes black garlic which is not everywhere, but having bought it once, I can use it in a number of recipes. Similarly, Sunday Suppers at Lucques -- a favorite dinner party cookbook-- has a relatively narrow selection of herbs and dried chilis so I am not buying a jar of something that proceeds to go stale in the cabinet. I often shy away from Cook's Illustrated or Christopher Kimball for the need to shop for an hour to make a 30 minute dish.
Thanks for reminding us about Sunday Suppers at Lucques - I have been wanting it for a looong time. Just bought it.
In Sunday Suppers there’s a recipe for gnocchi with chanterelles and fresh corn that is simply divine. As soon as chanterelles appear at the market I start making it once a week. For that recipe alone, Sunday Suppers is worth the price, although I have other Lucques favorites as well.
Thanks for telling me -I’m pretty sure I’ve read that recipe. I’ll make sure to look it up as soon as my book arrives. Chanterelle season is upon us!
I always have frozen garlic cubes from Trader Joe on hand. I realize fresh garlic is preferable, but the frozen cubes are easy to pop into a dish. I add them at the beginning so the garlic flavor doesn’t overwhelm a dish.
I've come around on some shortcuts when cooking, partially because I was getting shamed for not making everything from my own pita bread to squeezing my own coconut milk, as well as having a frozen pizza every once in a while. (A post-pandemic habit we picked up from the lockdown, when all bets were off. Which can be very good if doctored up with chorizo, fresh basil, and/or Calabrian chiles, and baking them longer than the package says to.) Someone once gave me a hard time online for baking one, telling me pizza dough was very easy to make...which I told them I knew from making it at Chez Panisse. 😉
I've never used pre-chopped or pre-peeled garlic (and never saw it frozen) but I'm pretty sure it would take a keen palate to taste the difference in a pot of soup or braised chicken.
I makes French style puréed soups a lot. I don’t want them to taste too garlicky so I add the garlic cube when I am initially sweating the base vegetables. I’m betting they exist in France at Aldi or the shops that specialize in good quality frozen food.