GREAT GRANDPA ED'S BLOG

(One of my favorite recipes)

I was inspired by “Ten Dollar Dinners” to make this recipe although I modified it to suit my personal tastes (and it certainly DOES NOT cost $10 to make). It’s really easy to do: Prep your ingredients so that you will have everything ready to place in your pan when you start cooking

. . .smash a few cloves of garlic (I’m a garlic lover, but you can use as many or as little as you like); add about 1/4 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes (more or less), rinse, dry & slice your Broccoli Florets (slice them very thin), then pour about 1/3 of a cup of good Olive Oil into a non-stick frying pan (I like to use stainless steel here, cast iron will also work well). Add the crushed garlic and red pepper flakes and a few *Anchovy fillets to the pan and heat over medium heat *(I love anchovies but you can leave them out of you don’t like them). Heat this mixture, stirring regularly, until the garlic turns golden brown – smashing up the anchovies with the back of a wooden spoon as you do so. As soon as it turns brown remove the garlic from the pan and set it aside.

Now add the broccoli florets to the hot oil. Add salt and coarsely ground black pepper (go easy on the salt of you used anchovies). Toss to coat the broccoli with the oil mixture. Continue to heat over medium heat until the broccoli reaches the texture you want (I like mine to remain nice and “crunchy” – it may only take 4 or 5 minutes). Then turn the heat to “high” and pour in a big splash of Sweet Marsala Wine – about 1/4 cup (if you don’t like wine you can use a vinegar (red, white wine, white Balsamic (that would be good, too) and stir with your wooden spoon to deglaze.

Once the broccoli has been cooked to your liking, add in the pasta. If necessary (if the mixture looks too dry) you can add a little water or pasta water to the pan (i added a big serving of leftover cooked Angel Hair Pasta). Toss to coat one more time, then top with shredded Parmesan (I used Parmesan this time, but Palmisano Reggiano would be even better!)