Creamy broccoli pasta is simple and tasty. Comfort food at its best. An easy mid-week meal that you can pull together in 30 minutes.
The sauce
The sauce is onions, green peppercorns, gorgonzola, cream, garlic, a dash of masala or wine (optional) and broccoli. Roughly crush the green peppercorns (pickled or dried). Trim away the flower part of the broccoli and set aside together with any leaves. Waste nothing. Thinly slice all the stems and sizzle them with the onion, garlic, green pepper and spring onion. Add both a little butter and olive oil. You want the onions to be soft, golden and translucent.
Meanwhile, blanch the broccoli heads in plenty of salted boiling water and don’t cover the pan. Set aside to drain. Once the onions are ready – add the gorgonzola and a dash of masala. Add the cream and broccoli heads as soon as the cheese is melted. Gently smash them with the back of a fork and cook until all the water has all but evaporated. By all means, use other blue cheeses, but be wary of anything too strong that will overpower the broccoli.
Check for seasoning and add salt and freshly ground black pepper if necessary. If you don’t want to use cream, stir in yoghurt at the very end or whisk in a teaspoon of flour to stop it from curdling and add it during cooking. Moisten the sauce with a little of the broccoli/pasta water if it is too dry.
The Pasta
Cook the pasta in the broccoli water and then add the pasta to the sauce. Add a little pasta water if you need to loosen the sauce.
Orecchiette would be my pasta of choice , but I couldn’t resist using the lumaconi winking at me in the cupboard. It is more ideally suited to filling than baking; however, there is plenty of sauce for both the sauce and to stuff into the shells whether you bake it or not😀. Baking has the advantage of allowing you to make the dish in advance. Reserve some of the pasta water to moisten the sauce before sliding it into the oven, with plenty of grated cheese, for approximately 10-15 minutes before you want to serve.
Walnut Gremolada
Serve immediately with grated parmesan and a few sweet red pepper or red pepper chilli flakes. Make a gremolada with a few crushed walnuts for a little added zing. Mix a teaspoon of lemon peel, a quarter of a teaspoon of super finely chopped garlic, a tablespoon of diced walnuts and a tablespoon of chopped parsley.
When buying broccoli – it should be a dark, almost purple-green, with a tight head and the leaves curled up around it: NO yellow and NO open little flowers. Also, look at the base of the stem. It must be clean and bright green. Buy broccoli with a long stem – it has so much flavour, and you want to use it for the sauce.
I can’t buy it locally here in Greece, but purple sprouting also would make a great sauce.
If you are thinking of pasta for supper, a delicious and quick recipe (with store cupboard ingredients) is Pasta Soffritto . For all pasta recipes, click here.
Ecco qua – Supper😃
Creamy Broccoli Pasta
Ingredients
Creamy Broccoli Sauce
- 1 large head of broccoli
- 1 large onion finely sliced
- 2 spring onions finely sliced
- 2 cloves garlic finely grated
- 1½ tsp green peppercorn (dried or pickled) lightly crushed
- 100-120 g gorgonzola cut into small chunks
- ⅓ cup cream or yoghurt
- 2 tbsp Masala optional
- 50 g butter
- olive oil
- salt and fresh ground pepper
- 400 g pasta of choice
- 1 handful grated parmesan to serve
- 1 tsp chilli or red pepper flakes to garnish
Walnut Gremolada
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- ¼ tsp finely grated garlic
- 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
- 1 tbsp chopped walnuts
- dash of olive oil to moisten
Instructions
Creamy Broccoli Sauce
- Roughly crush the green peppercorns (pickled or dried). Trim away the flower part of the broccoli and set aside together with any leaves. Waste nothing.
- Thinly slice the broccoli stems and sizzle in olive oil and butter with the onion, garlic, green peppercorns and spring onion. You want the onions to be soft, golden and translucent.
- Blanch the broccoli heads in plenty of salted boiling water Set aside to drain.
- Once the onions are ready – add the gorgonzola and a dash of Masala. Add the cream and broccoli heads as soon as the cheese is melted. Gently smash them with the back of a fork and cook until all the water is all but evaporated.
- Meanwhile, Cook the pasta in the broccoli water.
- While the pasta is cooking, check for seasoning in the sauce and add salt and freshly ground black pepper if necessary. Add a little water from the cooking pasta if the sauce is too dry.
- As soon as the pasta is ready – add it to the sauce – reserving a little of the liquid to loosen the sauce (if necessary).
- Serve immediately with grated parmesan and sprinkled with the sweet red pepper or red pepper chilli flakes. Or follow the instructions for the walnut gremolada below.
Walnut Gremolada
- Mix the lemon zest, garlic, walnuts and chopped parsley and moisten with a drop of two of olive oil. You can also add a little flaked salt.
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