broccoli pasta

"What do you want for dinner?" Retirement seems to make this question a more prominant daily conversation topic in the absence of other regular stimuli that a work  life might provide. dr bob has to come up with an answer. And more than one since the decider can be quite fickle. As the cooking team recipe investigator, his Facebook feed provides some regular random input that bob "shares" when they grab his attention so they won't be lost, and then adds it to a list of the URLs to provide some mechanism by which they might not be forgotten in the neverending stream of junk posts that clutter up everyone's news feeds, although the implementing versus harvesting ratio of  such collected recipes is not very encouraging. And bob likes plant-based cuisine to satisfy his feeble attempts at trying to "eat right" as an investment in his future declining years health outcomes. But the cooking team never seems to shop for more than a day or two at a time to provide some veggie around which to build a meal. This time there is freshly bought broccoli and bob has two paper prerprinted printouts of broccoli related recipes to offer up. The decider picks "easy broccoletti past recipe with garlic". Broccoli, broccoletti, close enough. And garlic is a strong selling point. Although bob is big on white beans which the rejected recipe had. Next time. Okay, the path is clear.

bob grates up some cheese and lets the kitchen master do her thing. The presence of garlic and red pepper flakes and lemon juice all in the same ingredient lineup was one of the attractions this dish had for bob. Indeed upon serving, the pasta alone (no broccoli bits in the bite) with this white sauce coating it was super tasty. Another success. We had half a package of orecchiette left in the cupoard since we had been trying to right size our pasta portions lately, so we went with that. In fact orecchiette have an affinity for this kind of green veggie, traditionally broccoli rabe but bob was never overly keen on this slightly bitter choice, so broccoletti or even boring broccoli as a substitution was a plus in his limited imagination. The chef decided to replace the chicken broth with simple pasta cooking water, which made this vegetarian, so extra points there. The vegan option would mean giving up parmigiano for some nondairy replacement, but we cannot sell out our allegiance to the king of cheeses.

The recipe calls for short pasta shapes but we amateurs don't see why any shape pasta would not like to pair up with this sauce.

ingredients

1 large onion, chopped

3 T olive oil, divided

1 large bunch or 2 small bunches broccolini, chopped (about 6 c chopped broccolini) or 1 medium broccoli crown

3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 c chicken broth

pinch of red pepper flakes

salt to taste

1/2 c parmesan cheese (or pecorino)

2 t lemon juice (optional) [use it!]

12 oz short pasta shape, such as ziti or orecchiette [we used 8 oz]

instructions

1. Start with the onion in one T of olive oil. Saute it, cooking until softened, maybe 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile start the salted pasta water boiling and when receptive, toss in the pasta. You know how to do this step.
3. Stir fry the green veggie of choice together with the onion and the other 2 T oil. About 5 minutes.
4. Stir in the garlic and the chicken broth or pasta water and the red pepper flakes and salt. Once the liquid begins to simmer, lessen the heat a bit so as not to burn anything. Simmer covered about 5 minutes until your green veggie is tender.
5. Turn off the heat until the pasta is ready.
6. Drain the pasta and toss with the veggie sauce mixture. Then the cheese and lemon juice (use it!).
7. Serve immediately and enjoy!
8. Don't send us any complaints. These recipes are all use at your own risk.

notes

1. The online recipe by Cooking Chat: easy broccolini pasta recipe with garlic.
2. They suggest adding a cup of chickpeas for additional protein and fiber. If only bob had actually read this suggestion ahead of time, he could have lobbied for it, although the kitchen master can be somewhat rigid when executing recipes. Even other veggies on hand like chopped red bell pepper for color or even spinach. Spinach? With broccoli related veggies? We don't think so.
3. Orecchette are a favorite pasta in the dr bob kitchen, typical of Puglia, the region of his only long term Italian girlfriend who inspired his first tiramisu attempts, and the origin region of some subsequent friends. "Little ears". Kind of cute when translated.
4. We are prejudiced against ziti, the flat surface of which we imagine is not good at grabbing sauce. Whether it is true or not. Nyet.
5. Why is parmegiano-reggiano called the king of cheeses?
6. Illustrations available.