ORECCHIETTE WITH BROCCOLI
4-6
MEDIUM
PREP TIME
30 MINS
COOK TIME
1 HOUR
TOTAL TIME
1 HR 30 MINS
RECIPE PROVIDED BY
Zia Lucia
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INGREDIENTS
- 400g Orecchiette
- 800g Romanesco / broccoli
- 2 tablespoons Terre Di San Vito olive oil
- 1 clove finely chopped garlic
- 200g Pancetta/streaky bacon/lardons, chopped
- Salt: 1 tablespoon for the boiling water
- A pinch of Chili pepper/chili flakes to taste
- 4 Anchovies
- 120g Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (or more if you love it!)
For the tomato sauce:
- 4 tablespoons of Terre Di San Vito extra virgin olive oil for cooking
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 2 jars Passata (around 690g each or the cartons)
- Salt and pepper to taste
INTRODUCTION
Orecchiette is Italian for "little ears." Their size and rounded shape are just right for toppings such as: pancetta, pine nuts and broccoli or for holding a delicious tomato sauce. Grating Parmigiano-Reggiano over the entire dish is always a good idea. It is one of the first dishes my brother and sisters ask for when we visit our Italian family – we can’t get enough of it! We have an auntie who lives in the old town of Bari (Bari Vecchia). She is one of the ‘older’ ladies who every day, sit outside on the cobbled street, with her neighbours, having a good old moan and a gossip while making this wonderful, fresh traditional Puglian pasta.
Memories of sitting with them when we were younger always make me smile. They would give us a corner of the wooden board (not a table!) to sit at, some of the raw pasta and a knife and off we would go; cutting, dragging it with the knife to form the shape and then eating it before they caught us! This recipe traditionally uses green cauliflower (Romanesco)from Puglia but this can be substituted by broccoli. Quick, easy but so full of flavour.
METHOD
Preparing the dish
- Wash the broccoli.
- Cut into florets.
- Boil the broccoli in a large saucepan
of salted water for approximately 5 minutes. - Once cooked (al dente: to the bite), drain the water (but keep it) and set the broccoli aside.
- In a large frying pan, add the pancetta/bacon on a medium heat.
- Cook for about 3 minutes or once it begins to turn golden but not crispy (yet!).
- Add the Terre Di San Vito olive oil, garlic and chilli pepper/flakes.
- As soon as the garlic begins to sizzle, add the anchovy fillets and let them melt into the oil. This will give a salty taste to the dish.
- Add the broccoli florets and mix.
- Set aside.
Preparing the tomato sauce
- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat
- When warm, add the finely chopped onions and sauté for about 5 minutes or until they are translucent.
- Then add the chopped garlic, do not let it burn.
- Once it is lightly golden, add the 2 jars pf passata.
- Fill one of the empty passata jars with water, swish it around the bottle (with the lid on!) then pour it into the second empty jar.
- When all the remaining sauce has been collected by the swirling water, add it to your sauce.
- Add a teaspoon and a half of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper and stir the sauce.
- Bring the sauce to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer, add a lid and let it cook for at least an hour. Low and slow.
- After approx. 30 min, taste your sauce to see if you need to add more seasoning (with a spoon or by dipping in a chunk of crusty bread – but remember – it is hot!)
Cooking the pasta
- Cook the orecchiette in the salted water in which you cooked the broccoli
- When the pasta is cooked, drain and transfer it to the pan with the broccoli and stir.
- If the orecchiette is dry while stirring, add a little more of the reserved cooking water.
Bringing the dish together
- Give the pasta, broccoli and bacon (all in the frying pan) a good mix but don’t mix it too hard or the broccoli may fall apart!
- Put the mixture into a large serving bowl and cover it with a generous serving of our tomato sauce and Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Buon appetito!
Top tips:
- Reserve some of the pasta water
Serve with a bottle of our fabulous Terre Di San Vito Apeneste white wineSalute!
