Faster-than-your-fusilli broccoli & blue cheese pasta
Here’s another super speedy one! Much like our Faster-than-your-fusilli beetroot pasta this recipe can be pulled together in the time it takes to boil pasta.
The style of sauce here is one of our absolute favourites… is it a light sauce, or hot dressing though? We debate this at length each time. Either way this style of sauce is light, quick and jammed-packed with flavour - what could be more perfect for a seasonal working from home lunch? In the summer Katy makes a stunning ‘hot dressing’ for our pasta lunches using quick fried tomatoes, herbs and capers which we’ll share as soon as tomatoes are back in.
Purple sprouting broccoli - or “PSB” - comes into season in the UK in late February and stays with us until the end of April; we put it on a pedestal much asparagus which also is very “short-seasoned” and a true delicacy. In our eyes PSB is every bit as special. It has a faintly bitter, iron-rich flavour which we love and find to be very versatile… blanched, roasted, thrown into bowls of pasta, or mixed with grains and doused with tahini, you name it! We were lucky enough to get our mitts on the very first crop from Little Gems - our local green grocer - and it was a true delight!
Purple sprouting broccoli
In terms of prep PSB is very straightforward as the florets, leaves and stems are all edible and all delicious. All that’s required is to pick off any discoloured leaves, and trim the base of the stalks if they seem a little tough or woody.
We’ve used hazelnuts here as they were what we had to hand, but any nut will work perfectly. Walnuts would be extra delicious and a very classic addition to this rather British “broccoli & Stilton” flavour profile. Equally, any blue cheese will work well; we use Binham Blue as it is local to us here in Suffolk.
We hope you enjoy it! If you give this one a whirl do tag us in your creations on instagram - we’d love to see!
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10-12 minutes
This recipe serves 2 people.
Ingredients:
Pasta sufficient for 2
10-12 spears purple sprouting broccoli
1 clove garlic, minced
½-1 red chilli, depending on heat preference
4 stalks rosemary
30 g (⅓ cup) hazelnuts, toasted
4 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp red wine vinegar
Pinch of salt & pepper
60 g blue cheese
Method:
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over a high heat. Keeping the lid on will speed things up.
Meanwhile, trim the base of the stalks of the PSB if they seem tough or woody, though this early in their season they should be young and delicate. Chop into 2.5 cm lengths. Do not discard any part of the broccoli - all the leaves and stalks are equally delicious!
Mince or finely grate the garlic clove; finely dice the red chilli; strip the rosemary leaves from their stalks and finely chop; and roughly chop the toasted hazelnuts - we like leaving these chunky and so aim to halve each hazelnut, but there’s no need to be too precious. And that’s all the ‘prep’ done!
Throw your pasta into the boiling water; cook as per the packet’s instructions.
Meanwhile, gently heat 4 tbsp of olive oil in a small frying pan or saucepan. Once warm, but by no means hot, add the garlic, chilli, rosemary, and hazelnuts. Keep the heat low/medium and fry these very gently for 2-4 mins. This short cooking time will take the raw edge off of these ingredients and allow their flavours to infuse into the oil, but keep them tasting fresh and pungent.
Add 4 tbsp of red wine vinegar and continue cooking for 1 minute. This provides the all important acidic high note to this hot dressing.
3 minutes before your pasta is cooked, throw in the chopped PSB; if you’ve reduced the heat you may want to turn it back up to keep things simmering.
After 3 minutes drain your pasta and PSB and return these to the saucepan. Pour over your dressing and be sure to use a rubber spatula to scrape in every last drop of that flavoursome oil. Add a generous pinch of salt and pepper and crumble in the blue cheese. Give everything a good stir before serving in warmed bowls and tucking in right away.
