Creamy Broccoli Pasta
Broccoli, gorgonzola and green peppercorns come together for a delicious pasta sauce - ready in 30 minutes.
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Servings: people
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.
Notes
If you don't want to use cream, stir in yoghurt at the very end - heat turned off. Or whisk in a teaspoon of flour to stop it from curdling and add it during cooking as per the recipe.
