Nonna's Kitchen 3 - A Pasta Recipe for Lent

The Preamble:
By the time you’re reading this, Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday will have come and gone, Mardi Gras is over, and the season of Lent has begun. Lent, common to most Western Christian traditions, is the season of fasting and repentance prior to Easter. Many Christians “give up” something for Lent, usually something thought of as indulgent, or slightly wicked, say…chocolate, or maybe alcohol. One common tradition of Lent is to not eat meat on Fridays; the Midwest standard Friday Night Fish Fry was one of my favorite things about attending college in Wisconsin!

Italian Catholics like my grandparents are a little more Old School than that – when I was growing up, my family NEVER ate meat on Friday. I’ve never found this to be much of a hardship, because some two of my favorite foods – baccala (salt cod) and squid – were cheap and plentiful when I was a kid, and there was that Fish Fry…

Meatless Fridays also meant that my grandmother had to be creative about the Primi (the first course, usually pasta, polenta or risotto) because most preparations use some sort of meat as a flavoring or starter. One of my favorite pastas as a child is something I still make today, and as I mentioned in an earlier article, it was one of my staples in college when my friends were eating prepackaged prepared foods or takeout. Broccoli spaghetti is quick, easy and cheap, and is perfect for busy families because it’s a pretty good way to get kids to eat vegetables. Two variations are offered, both of which are more traditional to my family but less so for me at this point.

A note about olive oil: you’d have to be living under a rock these days to not know about extra virgin olive oil. Once thought of as exclusive to specialty shops and haute cuisine, EVOO, as one perky television host calls it, is available in supermarkets now. I use it a lot – it’s great for salads and for preparations when you want the piquant, greenish olive flavor to play a role in the dish. BUT, it’s not what you want for this pasta. Used here, EVOO will overpower the other flavors, making the pasta taste…well…oily. You need a serviceable second-pressing olive oil for this recipe – inexpensive, and relatively flavor neutral. My family has always used Tiger brand olive oil, but this isn’t a supermarket brand. If you don’t have access and don’t want to order online, look on the shelf for an olive oil that’s pale and yellowish, rather than the bright green of EVOO. Berio, Bertoli, Colavita and DaVinci are all acceptable brands, and even the Crisco branded olive oil isn’t bad. In a pinch, I suppose you could just use a vegetable oil, but the flavor won’t be the same.

The Recipe:
Broccoli Spaghetti
Serves 4 as a first course

Total prep and cooking time: approx. 40 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb. broccoli
1 lb. spaghetti or other dried pasta (penne works well for a change)
¼ c olive oil, plus more to taste
2 Tbsp. butter
4-6 large cloves garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
red pepper flakes to taste (I use approx. 1 tsp.)
salt and pepper

Wash the broccoli and cut it into very small florets – you want the pieces to be smaller than bite sized. If you’re using broccoli with the large stems attached, peel the woody stems, chop them up and use them as well – the flavor is just as good. You can use frozen broccoli if you want, but it’s not a vegetable I buy frozen – the flavor just isn’t the same. If time is a factor, buy the pre-cut and prewashed broccoli from Costco and cut each piece into four smaller pieces.

Start the water for the pasta; use at least five quarts of water in an eight-quart or larger pot. As I mentioned in the first article of the series, you can’t skimp on this or the pasta will stick.

Heat the olive oil in a 12” skillet over medium low heat, add the red pepper flakes (if you’re using them) and the garlic. I prefer to cut my garlic in a fairly coarse mince and use more cloves, rather than using a press which extracts more of the garlic flavor, because I like the large bits. But, this is personal taste – do what works for you and your family. The garlic should barely sizzle when you add it – if it looks like it’s frying, then your temperature is too high and the garlic will brown, adding an off flavor. Add the broccoli to the pan and toss to coat everything. Leave the heat low and cover the pan, but don’t ignore it – you’ll need to stir or toss every minute or so. The broccoli needs to cook slowly for the 20 minutes or so that it will take for the pasta water to boil and the pasta to cook. You’re looking for a slow, moist braise here, hence the use of the pan lid to keep in some of the steam. If the pan dries out and the broccoli starts to brown, add a tablespoon or two of water (or chicken broth if you have it opened) to keep things moistened. If you want your broccoli to be a little al dente, rather than cooked through, and it’s ready before your pasta is cooked, just turn the pan off and leave it covered – it will be fine.

When the water is at a rolling boil, add salt (about 2 Tbsp.) to flavor the pasta, then add the spaghetti, stirring until the pot comes back to a boil. Prepare the pasta according to the package directions and to your desired doneness. Two notes on cooking pasta: DON’T add oil to the cooking water, or none of the sauces you use will hold on to the pasta – if your pasta sticks when you’re cooking, your pot is too small or you’re not using enough water. Second, DON’T rinse the pasta when you drain it – you’ll rinse away the starch and sauces will taste runny and bland.

When the pasta is done, save 1 c of cooking water (you might need it for the sauce), drain it and add the butter to the still hot cooking pot, swirling to coat the bottom of the pot. Return the pasta to the pot, toss with the butter, then add the broccoli and toss thoroughly. If things seem a little dry to you, you can either add a little of the cooking water back to the pot, or, if you’re feeling extravagant, add more olive oil or butter. Salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy!

Variations:
The most traditional version of this recipe is to substitute fresh asparagus, washed and cut into ½” lengths, woody ends discarded. Omit the red pepper flakes for this version, and use more black pepper if desired. Asparagus is starting to drop in price now that Spring is around the corner, so it’s nearly as economical as the broccoli, at least for the next few months; I wouldn’t make this version in the winter when asparagus costs more than steak…

When I was in elementary school, artichokes were pretty weird to most people, and so they were cheap at the grocery store; artichoke hearts make what was my grandfather’s favorite version of this pasta. Use fresh globe artichokes (not canned or frozen), clean them thoroughly and cut the hearts into a medium small dice, cook in the same manner. As with the asparagus, omit the red pepper flakes.

Thoughts on serving this pasta: Like checkered tablecloths and Chianti bottles wrapped in straw, serving grated Parmesan or Romano cheese with all pastas is somewhat of a bastardization of Italian cuisine. A nutty, piquant cheese is a nice flavor compliment to a hearty meat or tomato based sauce, but it totally overpowers a dish like this, so leave the cheese in the fridge for this pasta, please. Finally, though the flavors permeate the entire dish, the broccoli doesn’t usually stick to the pasta and ends up in the bottom of your serving bowl. So, when you’re dishing up, be sure to scoop out a spoonful of broccoli from the bottom to add to each plate.

Mangia, mangia, fatte grande!