Skip to content
cooking

A recipe for pasta with broccoli

Broccoli Florets waiting to be chopped. They need to be smaller for this pasta dishPrepare your ingredients;

Chop the Broccoli into very small florets. Smaller than these.  Figure a half-cup per serving.

Chop Garlic fine. Lots!


Chop a Cured Meat into small dice; the original was pancetta but I’ve used
Prosciutto,
Smithfield ham,
Black forest ham,
Cheap ham from the food pantry,
Bacon.
Someone I know used bologna but I think she was literally trying to get rid of her guest.
Figure a quarter-cup per serving.

Chop up some Nuts. The original was pignoles and oh hell yeah they are great– I like walnuts better myself. When I lived in GA for a time, it was pecans with the smithfield ham… Almonds are too hard, cashews might work, but are missing that little bit of astringency.

Have at hand:
Salt,
Pepper,
Lemon,
Red Pepper flakes
Parmesan

In a big pan melt some Butter and add about the same amount of Olive Oil.

How much? I can’t tell you, honestly. It’s the only sauce your pasta will have, but at the same time– too much and the other ingredients will slide off the noodles.

Just warm it till the butter is melted, toss in the Garlic, give it a quick stir then take it off the fire for a moment.

Start your Pasta.

I like angel hair, or tiny shells– something a little delicate. I think the original called for Linguini, so– your choice.

Dump the Broccoli into the pasta about two minutes before the al dente point. Drain it and set it aside while you return the big pan to the fire.

Heat up your oil and garlic till it starts to color.

If you want to, you can put parmesan cheese into the pan and  let it melt  just a bit– a few second.

Add the nuts and saute them too.

Add red pepper flakes if you want them.

Toss in your meat— cook it for bare seconds if it’s  ham, longer if it’s bacon, and dump your pasta and broccoli out of the sieve into the pan.

Sprinkle with lemon juice.

Carefully turn and toss the whole shebang till the elements are pleasingly mixed.

Bring it to the table and grind some salt and pepper over the top.

Gentlemen grow faint with the pleasure of this dish, and genteel ladies suddenly eat like horses– I’ve seen it happen.
Little kids love it, even with the broccoli.