Back now from Belgium for about 3 weeks & entangled in preparing the planned move. Did I mention that we lived in our house for about 20 years … a spacious house … enabling us to fill it w/ furniture, framed pictures, memorabilia, books, DVDs … whatever.
We plan systematically – starting w/ a list of all our possessions, small & big … deciding what to do. Is it still ok, working, useful? Do we really need it? Or couldn’t we bring ourselves to discard it? (Sometimes I remember Marie Kondo & her famous manual for tidying up.) Believe me: it works. Some time later we had a final list of all our belongings we’d like to move with us as well as list what to resell, what to give away, what to clear out.
We are now busy implementing.
Cooking & baking miss out – not such breathtaking news by now.
Fortunately there is pasta & vegetables & some additional delicacies to prepare quick & dirty pasta dishes.
What do we need?
It’s only:
- fresh broccoli
- pine nuts & raisins
- anchovies
- an onion
- fresh garlic
- dried chili
- pecorino
… & pasta!
(In my pantry I found girandole which are absolutely fine w/ this dish!)
I found the basic recipe – better a lot of them – on food blogs as well as in cookbooks … & of course made my very own version.
So … pasta with a broccoli sauce – somewhat spicy because of a hint of chili, somewhat sweet because of raisins, somewhat salty because of anchovies … topped with lots of freshly grated pecorino – created within less than half an hour.
Some preparations:
- Chop the onion, press the garlic, crumble the chili (& discard the pits!).
- Clean the broccoli, discard the stems & cut the florets.
- Grate the pecorino.
Start cooking the broccoli for about 10 min.
At the same time start frying softly the anchovies in olive oil. When melted add the onion, the garlic, the chili, the pine nuts & the raisins.
When the broccoli is ready transfer the broccoli into the frying pan, crush the broccoli & mix. Continue frying softly. Add some hot water if it seems too dry.
Start cooking the pasta in the hot water of the broccoli. Girandole will usually take about 6 – 7 min. When ready add the pasta to the broccoli mess & mix. Add half of the grated pecorino & mix …
… & serve at once together w/ the rest of the pecorino.
Enjoy!
- 150 g broccoli (no stems)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 dried chili (no pits)
- 4 anchovies (in oil)
- 20 g raisins
- 20 g pine nuts
- 150 g pasta (girandole)
- 50 g freshly grated pecorino
- salt & pepper (to taste)
- Grate the pecorino.
- Clean & trim the broccoli; cut it into small pieces. Discard the stems.
- Cook the broccoli for about 10 min.
- Chop the onion. Press the garlic. Crumble the chili; discard the pits.
- Add the anchovies to olive oil & let them melt when starting frying.
- Add the rest of the ingredients & fry softly.
- Add the cooked broccoli & continue frying softly. Don't discard the water!
- Add some hot water – 2-3 tbsp – to the sauce & mix. Crush the broccoli.
- Add the pasta to the hot broccoli water & cook along to the instruction.
- Add the cooked pasta to the broccoli sauce mess & mix.
- Add half of the grated pecorino & mix.
- Serve at once – together w/ the rest of the pecorino.
