Pasta with broccoli and pecorino cheese

Posted by

Nicola Delfino

January 18, 2025

On February 26, 2020

Preparation: 5 mins

Cooking: 15 mins

Difficulty: easy

Yields: 2 portions

Cost: low

If you want to go straight to the recipe click here

Introduction to Pasta with broccoli and pecorino cheese

Chef Nicola Delfino wanted to share with us this tasty recipe of pasta with broccoli and pecorino cheese which has the scent of culture and culinary tradition; as well as delighting the palate with a distinct flavor at a reduced cost, this plate allows us to obtain a considerable amount of high value nutrients. Chef Nicola’s method of processing, guarantees us to maintain at the maximum level broccoli’s vitamin and mineral content, as much as the bright colour which alone gives the diners a good mood.

I suggest that the anchovies in the recipe should be coming from sustainable fishing with using artisanal methods from local and/or national fisheries. Or you can simply replace them with capers, or salicornia or algaes to bring the flavor of the sea without any suffer for animals

Enjoy your pasta with rigatoni and pecorino and good revolution to all.
Başak

What do you need for pasta with broccoli

1 pan
1 pot
1 blender, alternatively a minipimer

Ingredients for a delicious pasta with broccoli and pecorino

500 gr di broccoli
60 gr pecorino Romano or other local matured sheep cheese
Extravergine Olive Oil (Chef didn’t mention quantity but not overdo)
2 small cloves of garlic
2 anchovy fillets (or 1/4 cup of salicornia or 2 tbsp of capers for vegetarian version)
Salt and pepper
Chili pepper

IF YOU WANT THE SEASONAL FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CALENDAR

Directions for easy pasta with broccoli and pecorino

This plate of pasta with broccoli and pecorino cheese is a variation of the famous Apulian recipe of the “orecchiette con le cime – orecchiette pasta with broccoli greens”.
It is a tasty dish, easy to prepare and very cheap.
We will use a few “restaurant” tricks to give it a gourmet taste and look.

First let’s prepare the sauce:

Step 1. We should first blanch the broccoli in a little salted water for a few minutes, then they should be cooked in a pan and then blended, do not overcook them, you would lose color and nutritional properties unnecessarily.

Here’s the first trick

when you pull them out of cooking water, dip them for a few seconds in a mix of ice and water. We’ll get 2 immediate results: we’ll stop cooking with this ice shock and we’ll fix the colour, making them look so beautifully shiny.

Second trick

don’t throw away their cooking water!

Step 2. Now, cut them roughly with a knife, taking care to choose some florets and keep them aside.

Step 3. Put the vegetables in a pan with a little extra vergine olive oil, garlic, chilli pepper, salt, pepper and a couple of anchovy fillets or capers in oil.

I recommend only a little salt: we will complete the dish with pecorino cheese, which is already very salty.

Step 4. Mix the vegetables when still hot, with some of their cooking water that you have kept aside, until you get a thick and creamy sauce.

Step 5. It’s time to put the pasta in the saucepan where broccoli’s cooking water is boiling.
Drain the pasta still “al dente” and sauté it in the pan with a drizzle of oil and a generous amount of green cream

Step 6. Remove the pan from the oven when it is cooked, add a little pecorino romano cheese and keep stirring until you obtain a creamy density, which in Italy they call mantecare.

Step 7. Now you are ready to put your pasta in dishes; serve, eat and please let me know if you liked it.

In the picture, I garnish the dish with a pecorino cheese froth (foam) made with cheese, hot water and a little heavy cream (but it is not essential for the success of the dish).

CHEf

Nicola Delfino, 1974
Executive chef by profession, captain by passion
He left the world of professional catering to experience the sea
Now for most of the year he is chef and captain of a gulet that cruises between Greece and Türkiye
Unruly disciple of Başak and her husband Giampaolo