This magnificent pasta is made with broccoli, prepared in two ways. Creamed and sautéed
ingredients for 4 servings (cost about 1,5 € pp)
- Salt
- 320 g spaghetti
- 300 g broccoli
- One anchovy
- One garlic clove
- 20 sultanas
- 10 almonds
- a fresh pepperoncino
- EV olive oil
This is one of my favorite pasta dishes. I prepare it often, as it is made with easy to find ingredients, it is very healthy and very cheap, as well. Practically, the only fresh product we need is broccoli!!! If you don´t have fresh pepperoncino, you can use dried.
The first thing we have to do is to elaborate the almonds. We immerge them for a minute in boiling water, we wait 2 more minutes to cool and then we peel them very easily. With the knife we cut each almond in slices. Starting from cold pan we roast almonds, till light to golden brown, not dark brown, because they will turn bitter.
We separate broccoli flowers from their stems. We cut all of them in pieces.
We bring to boil a big pot with salted water and when ready we add half of the broccoli flowers and the sultanas for one minute. We remove them and we add the stems with the rest of the flowers and we let them boil for 10 minutes. We remove them with a ladle and we transfer them in a bowl. We turn them into a light cream with the immersion blender, adding some boiling water, if needed. We salt.
Meanwhile, starting from a cold pan, we gently fry the anchovy (pressing and crushing it with a ladle, until it melts), the garlic clove minced and the fresh pepperoncino cut in small pieces.
Finally, we preheat very well a wok and we sauté the blanched broccoli flowers. To achieve this result we have to move the pan every half a minute in order to create a rough cooking and a charred result. We salt them at the very last moment of sautéing. We keep warm.
Meanwhile, we cook the spaghetti in the same pot, where broccoli were boiled.
When the pasta is ready (1 to 2 minutes less than al dente), we add it in the pan along with the broccoli cream, the garlic, the sultanas and the pepperoncino, adding some more oil if required. We start to mantecare, stirring continuously and adding some boiling water from the pot, till we create a very creamy and silky sauce.
We plate, adding on top the broccoli flowers and the almonds and we serve.
