Hi, this is the nineteenth post about Italian pasta recipes.
We are in winter. A seasonal vegetable is broccoli. In Italy we cook broccoli in many times even with pasta and it tastes fantastic!

There are a lot of recipes. Easy-to-do recipes and recipes rich in ingredients and full of flavours.
Today we begin with a very simple recipe made only with pasta, broccoli, anchovy fillets, capers and olive oil.
The recipe is our version. We are used to prepare it in winter frequently.

Orecchiette with broccoli

It’s title is “pasta e broccoli“. Once a time the title is similar in Italian and English.

Consult the complete list of our entries!

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta

Hi, this is the eighteenth post about Italian cuisine. In the last entries we wrote  about simple pasta recipes with cauliflower. We want to go on with these themed recipe ideas and tell you how Sicilians prepare pasta with cauliflower.

The most famous recipe is pasta with “vrocculi arriminati”. In Sicily cauliflowers are called broccoli or vrocculi.

Sicilian pasta tossed with cauliflower: rigatoni with "vrocculi arriminati"

You can find the recipe in this page of our website.
This is only the first and most known version but there are other versions in the isle.
We like very much a version whose ingredients include tomatoes and almonds. Here it is the recipe modified in our kitchen and that we use to make in winter many times!

Ingredients / Serves 2

700 g (1.6 lb) cauliflower
2 young fresh onions, finely chopped
2 anchovy fillets in oil
300 g (10 1/2 oz) ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped or 1 can cherry tomatoes
I tablespoon tomato paste
10 g  (1/3 oz) sultanas
10 g (1/3 oz) pine nuts
25 g (1 oz) almonds, peeled
140 g (5 oz) ziti
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon dry breadcrumbs
Salt
Grated Parmesan, if liked

People who follow the traditional recipe use bucatini. We prefer ziti. We like ziti very much.
Besides we  have also modified the cooking technique. In the traditional recipe cauliflower must be cooked in boiling water and then pasta must be cooked in the same water. We don’t like boiled vegetables. We prefer steamed vegetables.   So we make the recipe in this way.

We clean the cauliflower, remove the outer green leaves and the core from the stalk end. Then we break the cauliflower into pieces and break off florets (very little in order to cook them in few minutes). At the end we wash and steam them.
We soak sultanas in warm water.
We cook ziti al dente stage in abundant salt water (we dilute the steaming water of the cauliflower).

Meanwhile we prepare the sauce.  We toast almonds in the oven, let them cool and cut into pieces.
We put the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan together with the onions and anchovy fillets. We saute all the ingredients for 3-4  minutes, stirring and then we add the cauliflower, tomatoes and tomato paste. Generally we use ripe tomatoes but in winter we use canned cherry tomatoes as you can see in the photo below. We keep on cooking the sauce for about 10 minutes. At last we add also pine nuts, sultanas (squeezed of their soaking water) and almonds. We season to taste with salt, stir and switch off the gas. Look at the photo for more details.
We preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
We drain pasta very well and put it in the pan. We stir and pour the tossed pasta into a large, shallow baking pan. We sprinkle dry breadcrumbs on the top and bake for 15-20 minutes.
It tastes fantastic!

Serve it warm or hot. We suggest not to add Parmesan cheese but to put a little bowl full of Parmesan cheese on the table. Every one can sprinkle it on the top of his pasta if he likes it.

Look at the photo for more details!

Sicilian pasta with cauliflower sauce

Look at the two photos. The main ingredients are the same but they are different, really!

Read all our entry titles about the Italian art of cooking pasta in this page

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta

Hi, this is the seventeenth post about the art of cooking Italian pasta.

Yesterday Carlo and I showed you a simple pasta recipe whose sauce is made with cauliflower. Today we tell you about another version, typical of South of Italy. Orecchiette tossed with a white sauce made with cauliflower, bacon and black olives. Another tasty pasta recipe you can make in winter!
In this case the preferred pasta is orecchiette but you can use the pasta you are able to find or prefer.

Orecchiette, pasta from Apulia -Italy

Ingredients / Serves 2

140 g (5 oz) dry orecchiette
700 g (1.6 lb) cauliflower
40 g (1 1/2 oz) black olives, stoned and sliced
30 g (1 oz) bacon, cubed
4 anchovy fillets
1 garlic clove
Chilli pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Grated Pecorino, if liked, or grated Parmesan cheese

Clean the cauliflower and break off its florets. Bring abundant salt water to the boil and add the cauliflower florets. After some minutes add the pasta too and cook al dente stage. We can’t tell you the cooking time  exactly. It depends on your taste. Do yo like tender or crunchy cauliflower?
Meanwhile put the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan. Add the garlic clove, anchovy fillets, bacon, chilli pepper and  olives. Let all the ingredients flavour on medium heat stirring now and then.
Drain the pasta and cauliflower very well. Put them into the pan and flavour for a minute on high heat stirring with delicacy. Serve the pasta dish hot.

Put on the table a little bowl with grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese. So everyone will be able to sprinkle it on the top only if liked.

Consult all our entries about the art of Italian cooking in this page

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta

Hi, this is the sixteenth post about the art of cooking Italian  pasta.

Today Carlo and I show you how to make the pasta shape you prefer (penne, rigatoni, fusilli, spaghetti …) tossed with cauliflower sauce. This is a white sauce, in other words a no tomato sauce.
It’s a typical winter dish and is suitable for people who like healthy  recipes. That’s healthy but full of flavour. It tastes fantastic but only if you like cauliflowers
Here you can read the recipe.

Penne with cauliflower

Tomorrow we are going to tell you how you can prepare a similar recipe but with orecchiette from Apulia and more ingredients in the sauce.

Combine a great red wine with this simple but tasty dish such as Corvo rosso or nero d’Avola: both red wines from Sicily.

Consult all our entries about the Italian art of cooking pasta in this page.

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta

Hi, this is the fifteenth post about the art of Italian cooking.
Today we want to tell you about another pesto sauce recipe.
Pesto sauce is an authentic  recipe from Liguria.  In Italy we use it to toss pasta, gnocchi,  lasagne and pizza as we have already written. Among the pasta shape there are trofie: a short pasta. You can see it here.
Well, trofie can be tossed with a sauce made with pesto, green beans (also called French beans or string beans) and potatoes. It tastes fantastic!

Italian pasta tossed with pesto sauce, green beans and potatoes

You can find step-by-step instructions in this page.
You can make this recipe all year. In winter you can use frozen green beans and winter pesto.
Don’t worry if you don’t find trofie. You can make this recipe with other short pasta shapes.
Serve pasta as you can see in the photo, well stirred. Put in the table grated Parmesan cheese in a little bowl. Your guests will be able to sprinkle it on their dishes only if they want.

Obviously is a vegetarian recipe. If you don’t sprinkle Parmesan cheese it is a vegan recipe too.
This is the main dish. To complete your meal you can prepare a seasonal green salad. Don’t forget fruit for  perfect Mediterranean diet!

Consult all our entires about italian pasta recipes in this page.

Greetings from Italy

Carlo & Loretta