Good—simple choices for a better life

Pasta con Broccoli

500g broccoli
Salt for the boiling water
400g pasta (penne, fusilli or orecchiette)
4 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves, peeled
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated pecorino cheese to serve 

Pasta con Broccoli is a typical dish of Italy’s ‘poor cuisine’, and a champion of the Mediterranean diet. This recipe is simple, healthy, and incredibly full of flavour.

Cut the broccoli into small florets and throw into a pot with plenty of salted boiling water. Blanch the broccoli for a couple of minutes, then lift out with a slotted spoon and use the water to cook the pasta.

In a frying pan heat the olive oil and gently sizzle the garlic cloves to flavour the oil. Add the broccoli and sauté for a few minutes.

When the pasta is al dente (check the cooking time on the packet) drain and mix with the broccoli. Add salt and pepper to taste and stir well. Serve immediately, with a dusting of grated pecorino cheese. 

Tips
Instead of cheese, sprinkle the pasta with breadcrumbs previously sautéed in a frying pan with olive oil, garlic and salt until they become golden in colour. Notwithstanding its nickname as ‘the poor person’s parmesan’, for those who could not afford cheese, it is utterly delicious, and goes very well with broccoli.

Orecchiette pasta originates from the South Italian region of Puglia and is widely held to be the best choice to serve with broccoli.

Other variations of this dish include cooking the broccoli with the pasta and not before, or adding an anchovy to the garlic oil.

Broccolini, Blue Cheese and Walnut Tart

For the pastry

200g high grade flour
100g butter, cubed
1 egg yolk
3 tablespoons cold water

For the filling

A handful of broccolini or broccoli florets
4 eggs
250ml cream
100g blue cheese, cubed
2 tbsp walnut kernels
Salt and pepper to taste

Serves 8–10

For this recipe you can use broccolini or small broccoli florets. If you have your own garden, cut the head off a broccoli plant and leave the stalk in the ground. After a few weeks you can harvest the small broccoli florets that have sprouted along the stalk. Heat your oven to 180ºC while you make the pastry: put the flour and the butter in a large bowl and mix with your hands. When the mixture is crumbly add the egg yolk and the cold water and keep kneading until you get a smooth texture.

Cover and set aside. Wash the broccolini and set aside. If using broccoli florets cut into two or more pieces, depending on their size. Using an electric beater, whisk the eggs with the cream. Gently fold in the blue cheese, the walnut kernels, and salt and pepper to taste. Line a 23cm (9 inch) round flan dish with baking paper, and fill with the rolled pastry, making a small border (about 2cm high).

Arrange the broccolini inside the pastry shell and pour over the egg mixture, which should completely cover the vegetables. Bake at 180ºC for approximately 30 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the filling has set.

Tips
I prefer not to cook the broccolini (or florets) before adding them to the tart, as they can cook in the oven. But if you prefer, you can blanch the broccolini in boiling water for 30 seconds.

Broccoli Risotto with Pumpkin and Shaved Parmesan

1 broccoli head, with some stalk
100g pumpkin
1 shallot
2 tbsp olive oil or 50g butter
400g Arborio or other risotto rice
1 glass white wine
1.5 litres vegetable stock
50g butter (optional)
100g shaved parmesan

Serves 4

Risotto, a true North Italian dish, traditionally was made only with butter, but today many prefer to use olive oil. If you only make risotto occasionally, a bit of butter won’t harm you and will give it a more traditional taste.

Cut the broccoli florets into small pieces and set aside. Peel the broccoli stalk then cut into 1cm cubes. Do the same with the pumpkin, and set aside. Finely chop the shallot and gently sauté with the olive oil or butter until soft and translucent. Add the rice and after one minute the white wine. Once the wine has been absorbed, stir in the broccoli stalk and pumpkin and then, little by little, the hot vegetable stock. After ten minutes add the broccoli florets and keep stirring, adding stock when required, until the risotto is al dente (about 10 more minutes). If needed, add a little more stock or hot water. When the risotto is ready you can stir in more butter, if you like; in Italian this is called mantecare and produces a creamier risotto.

Divide the risotto between four plates, top with the shaved parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Tips
Another way to make this dish is to cook the broccoli first in salted water, then use the water as a stock for the risotto. Proceed as above, but add the cooked broccoli only halfway through the recipe. If you tend to burn your food, sautéing with olive oil is easier as butter can brown easily.