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

Carrot Curry

I learned how to make carrot curry from a Sri Lankan Tamil friend. It quickly became a favourite of mine, and went down a storm with guests. Her recipe was for a vegetable accompaniment- something to go with rice, lentils (dal) and a meat curry. This recipe has the potential to stray quite far from the authenticity of the original (apologies), but with tasty results. You could also use this method with grated potato, parsnips, swedes and other root veg, or with boiled/ steamed broccoli, cauliflower etc

Basic recipe:

• one small onion, diced
  
• 6 grated carrots
• garlic clove
• cumin (jeera)
• mustard seeds
• curry powder (not garam masala- madras would be good)
• garlic
• oil

1. Put the oil (groundnut oil is best, but I usually use olive oil as it is at hand and it is still delicious) into a large frying pan. Add a teaspoon of mustard seeds and the same of cumin seeds. Let them cook for around a minute, but not until black.
2. Add the diced onion and sweat/fry them until transparent. Sometimes I like the onion crispier- it doesn't matter. With this curry it is never quite the same twice as there is so much room for experimentation.
3. When the onion has cooked, add the grated carrot and diced garlic. You must remember to stir often. It will take around 15-20 minutes on a medium heat to cook.
   
4. Authentically, this curry should be quite al dente but I like mine softer and possibly a bit crispy- for this to happen you will have to wait until the water (that will come out of the carrots) evaporates.
   
5. Towards the end add some curry powder (to taste). It always tastes better cooked with some oil or butter- add a drop of oil and add the curry powder on top, allowing it to sizzle before stirring it in. Add salt to bring out the flavour!
   

Alternatives and waste busting

• Also delicious if you add the juice from a thumb-sized piece of fresh garlic towards the end.
  
• Sometimes I like this as a main course on its own. It is wonderfully colourful. If I was doing this I would usually toast some peanuts (raw, with shells) in another frying pan and mix at the end. This is really simple and very tasty, and adds protein and substance.
• For a lazy, after work version I might stir in a couple of spoons of peanut butter. This is also great if you are microwaving leftover curry the next day or for a packed lunch. Tasty with leftover rice, or even in a tortilla/ chapati or naan.
• Use up left over carrots. The original uses grated carrots, but why not use leftovers instead? It would also be great with leftover broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, and other root veg
• For a wetter curry, add some coconut milk (100-150ml) when the carrots are almost cooked. You could even just add cows' milk.
  

bottom photo (of cumin seeds) with thanks to niznoz
top photo with thanks to hanacy