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.
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.
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.
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 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!
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.
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.
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.
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.