Quote: Originally Posted by becks This is SO great! I spent 6 months in a culinary school in Italy, so I'm a total pasta fiend and I love a good recipie, and have lots to share.
Here's one of my favorites: quick, easy, relatively healthy...
Orechiette - as much as you want to make
Broccoli - the tops are best, but the stock works well too - as much as you want to add
2 cloves of garlic - chopped
a healthy squeeze of anchovy past (probably 1/2 to 1 teaspoon)
3-5 Tablespoons of olive oil
a pinch of red pepper flakes
a pinch of salt
grated (not shredded) parmesan cheese
Boil water in a big pan - a good gallon or so. When its boiling, add the orrichette and set a timer for 6 minutes. Get everything else ready to go in the meantime.
When the timer goes off, put the broccoli in the water - you're going to cook it at the same time as finishing the pasta. Four minutes later, pour the whole shebang into a colander. Save a bit of the water you used to boil the pasta for later.
Put the pan back on the stove and put in the olive oil. When its hot, add the garlic and red pepper flakes, salt and anchovy. Stir it around a bit until the garlic toasts a bit - maybe 2 minutes. Put the pasta and broccoli back in the pan and toss to coat. Add the pasta water if you need a little more liquid to coat. Add a good amount of parmesan - if I use 1/2 pound of pasta, I use about 1/4 cup parmesan - and toss to mix.
Serve it with additional parmesan. So yummy! I think I'm having it for dinner tonight. OMG how delicious does that sound? And I'm green with envy that you went to culinary school in Italy....sooooo lucky. It's funny because almost any pasta my Italian family makes starts with olive oil, garlic, and red pepper. Yours sounds great. Don't be afraid to share more recipes, I'm always on the hunt for pasta variations...yum!