Meat Free Monday

by
Debbie

Last week’s post on the role broccoli may play in breast cancer prevention prompted my friend Debbie to send me this delicious sounding recipe. Debbie writes: 

Your post about broccoli encouraged me to send this recipe to you. I made this meal tonight, it is a regular and enjoyed by all of us. And it is quick and easy to make, which is great for me:) It comes from Giada DeLaurentiis. I love her cookbooks and my favorite  is entitled “Everyday Pasta”. We eat a fair amount of pasta in our house:)
   

Farfalle with Broccoli  

1 pound farfalle (bow tie pasta)
2 heads of broccoli, trimmed to florets (about 4 cups) – I make a rough
estimation here and often add more
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 garlic cloves, chopped
5 anchovy fillets (you can leave these out if you want, I will explain
later)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese  

Method  

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook according to directions, however add the broccoli florets to the pasta when there is 4 minutes left, stir and cook. Drain the
pasta and broccoli, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water.  

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the olive oil and butter over medium-low heat. Add the garlic, anchovies, and red pepper flakes and cook for 5 minutes (be sure you stir this and keep on medium low or else it will burn). Put the pasta and broccoli in a large bowl. Toss with the  olive-oil/butter mixture, salt pepper and some of the reserved pasta water to make a light sauce.  

Giada suggests putting this on a serving platter and then sprinkling with Parmesan cheese.
However, 2 points I would like to make. 1- I tried the anchovies once. They do melt down to nothing when you cook them as above but my family did not like the strong taste. So now I leave them out and the dish is still flavorful and yummy. 2 – I add some Parmesan cheese to the entire dish in the large bowl and stir to make a light sauce before I serve it. Sometimes I also add more cheese on top of my own dish as I love the flavor:)  

Thanks Debbie 🙂

Category : Recipe
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