Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Recipe: Caramalized Broccoli with Pasta Rags
Posted by Greg in Broccoli, greg white, Pasta, Recipe
Blame childhood stereotypes and inept, though well-intentioned (love you, mommy!), mothers for broccoli’s bad rep amongst our generation. Steamed, boiled and, egad, microwaved, poor broccoli seems to be the lamb/cilantro of the vegetable world: people either love it or hate it. But here’s a recipe that will change the way you approach broccoli (not to mention every other colorful thing that grows out of the ground). By deeply caramelizing your broccoli, sans steaming or pre-cooking of any kind, the flavor profile changes from tepidly grassy to intensely earthy. The addition of the pasta rags, covered ever so slightly in the olive oil/broccoli business helps reinforce the idea that pasta should simply be dressed, not doused.
Full recipe after the jump.
Ingredients
- 1 medium head of broccoli
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 pound pasta rags (either homemade pasta scraps, or pieces of broken, dried lasagna noodles)
- 1/4c extra virgin olive oil
- peperoncino to taste
- salt to taste
Procedure
- Heat a saute or frying pan over medium heat. Add most of the oil, reserving a touch for later.
- Chop broccoli into small pieces: halve the florets, cut the stem into matchsticks. Rough chop garlic. Saute in oil. Salt. Pepper.
- Boil water.
- After 20 minutes under a watchful eye, the broccoli will have caramelized and sweetened.
- Boil pasta. Drain, add to broccoli in pan. Toss. Add remaining oil, off the heat. Serve.