bowties & broccoli

A comfort classic with veggies…so it’s healthy, am I right? Garlic and oil give rough chopped broccoli a big, warm hug and combine with al dente pasta and grated cheese for a delicious finish. Bowties and broccoli are perfect on their own, with a chicken cutlet, or leftover as a cold pasta salad!

Ingredients:
3 small heads of fresh broccoli OR 1 package frozen florets

1 box farfalle pasta (I like DeCecco but side note, cavatelli are also really good with this)

1 cup reserved pasta water

4-6 cloves garlic, sliced thin

Olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, red pepper flakes

Locatelli pecorino romano cheese (or any kind)

Instructions:

Put whole heads of broccoli into a large pot of boiling water for a few minutes until softened, strain, and let cool in colander.

Rinse pot, fill with water, and bring to a boil. Add pasta, cook according to “al dente” instructions, and reserve 1 cup of pasta water towards the end of cooking.

Meanwhile, pour 1/2 cup of olive oil in a small sauce pan and add sliced garlic. Turn heat on medium low, and cook garlic until just browned. Turn off heat, season with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, parsley, and red pepper flakes (optional). (I don’t have measurements for these but I’d say less on the salt and pepper, more on the powders and parsley. Let the Italian-American Gods speak to you…).

Let garlic and oil mixture sit while the pasta finishes cooking. Garlic will continue to deepen in color and caramelize a bit.

Rough chop the cooled broccoli heads. If you used florets, you don’t have to do anything at this point.

Most Important Part: Add a few ladles (or the cup you reserved) of pasta water (the white foamy part from the boiling pasta) to the garlic and oil mixture and stir to combine.

Strain pasta when it’s done cooking, add the oil mixture to the bottom of the pasta pot on low heat, add pasta back in, add broccoli, and add a sprinkling of Locatelli grated pecorino romano.

Mix all together - if it looks a bit dry, add more pasta water. It should be glistening - not soaked.

Plate pasta and top with locatelli pecorino romano cheese. Pair with a chicken cutlet for an old school classic!

Mangia!