Brocolli Pasta

This ideal recession-busting, energy saving healthy recipe can be adapted to whatever is in your fridge. This is from poor Southern Italy, where peasant farmers and poor Neopolitans have learned to make tasty food from the cheapest ingredients. Just make sure that you have pasta shapes and broccoli!

You need:
Pasta shapes (300g)
1 head broccoli
Olive oil
Garlic

Additional/ optional
Grated cheese (parmesan, Southern Italian pecorino, or even humble cheddar)
Chopped bacon, leftover chicken, pancetta, chorizo, other cured pork
Crushed chili flakes
Small onion

To make it
How often does it seem that we have wasted energy by cooking vegetables and pasta or rice separately? This recipe cooks them together.

1. You need two pans- one full of water for the pasta and broccoli, and the other for finishing it off.
2. Put enough water into a pan for the pasta and broccoli. Remember that if you are using healthier wholemeal or spelt pasta (which also contains much less gluten) it will take longer to cook.
3. Decide what ingredients you will use. If you are using the cured pork, leftover meat or onion it will need to be cooked. Cut up any meat into small pieces, heat a large pan (all of the pasta and broccoli has to fit in!), add some olive oil, and fry to your satisfaction.
4. Cut the broccoli head into small florets- mouth sized pieces. The broccoli will take about 5 minutes to cook (it needs to be quite soft for this dish) so throw it into the hot water five minutes before your pasta should be cooked.
5. Add chopped garlic (and chili if you are using) and some more oil to the frying pan just before you drain the broccoli and pasta.
6. Put the drained broccoli and pasta into the frying pan, stirring so that they get coated in the hot garlic oil, and any meat/ onions get well mixed. Add some salt and lots of fresh black pepper
   
7. Serve steaming hot, with the cheese of your choice on top

Tips
For people who can't eat dairy, to ring the changes or to add more protein:

1. Why not add 500ml of tomato passata to the frying pan once the onions have cooked a little?
2. If you don't want to use cheese, or don't have any, why not beat an egg and add when everything is in the frying pan. Stir well- as with carbonara you want the egg to be a little runny, so don't leave it in for too long!
3. Why not add crispy breadcrumbs/ croutons on top? A great way to use up some older bread, and extra delicious when cooked with garlic, onions and olive oil- add some crunch and flavour without meat.
4. You could also use preserved cheese, or the olive oil from the cheese preserving, or flavoured olive oil to serve.
   

Photo with thanks to churl

Nettles

If you ever ran outside in shorts as a child in the countryside, chances are that you realised the hard way that this country is full of stinging nettles.

But nettles, far from only being a blight, can also provide great (and free) greenery for you kitchen.

Nettles can be substituted for spinach in most recipes. Younger nettles will be sweeter than older nettles.

To pick nettles it is advisable to wear rubber gloves. Chop the nettles and blanch

To freeze nettles (they will last around 2 months in the freezer- defrost for ~ an hour in a bowl of cold water) 2lb of nettles will reduce, like spinach, to give you around 4 cups.

1. Remove the leaves from the stems
2. Blanch (to stop decay even whilst frozen and to get rid of the stingi-ness). You need to do this in a large pan of boiling water over a high heat. Drain, retaining two cups of water, once the water returns to the boil.
3. Saute gently in olive oil over a fairly gentle heat. You might want to add chopped garlic, chili flakes to the pan first. Stir them in the oil for a couple of mins to release their flavours. These flavours will intensify in the freezer. You need to cook them until they are mushy and most of the water has been cooked out.
4. Separate them into freezer bags, remove the air and remember to write on the date. Put in the freezer when they are cool.

Why not use your blanched or de-frosted nettles to make this wonderful looking Italian Ricotta and Greens Torte? Instead of ricotta you could also use home-made cheese as we explained here.

photo with thanks to Mr & Mrs Stickfingers