For Anchovy Lovers: Pasta with Broccoli and Anchovies

The early crop of broccoli from the garden is ready, so I am happily eating some of it in favorite ways. A simple salad of lightly steamed broccoli, dressed with olive oil and lemon juice is an early summer pleasure. Another dish I love comes from Marcella Hazan's The Classic Italian Cookbook, now out of print, but available in used mass market copies. I make her "Broccoli and Anchovy Sauce for Orecchiette and Other Pasta" all year round, in winter with frozen broccoli, but it is especially delicious with the fresh vegetable. You definitely have to love anchovies to enjoy this recipe.




As with many recipes, this one is very adaptable. I am giving you the recipe as Hazan has written it, with my variations in parentheses. She uses this sauce for homemade orecchiette (little ears), but I use 1/2 pound of factory pasta.

for 2 to 4 servings, depending on the appetite

2 cups fresh broccoli florets (I use the stalks too, because I like them, and for this recipe used a small head of broccoli, about 1/2 pound.)
salt
6 Tbs olive oil or 4 Tbs olive oil and 2 Tbs butter (Hazan prefers the sauce with some butter, but I use only olive oil.)
6 large or 8 medium flat anchovy filets, chopped
freshly ground pepper, 8 to 10 twists of the mill
1 Tbs butter
6 Tbs freshly grated Parmesan cheese
6 Tbs freshly grated Romano pecorino cheese (I don't like a lot of cheese in this dish and use only two or three tablespoons of Parmesan)

1. Steam broccoli until crisp tender.
2. Put 1/4 cup oil, or all the oil if you're not using butter, in a skillet with the chopped anchovies.Cook over medium heat, mashing the anchovies with the back of a wooden spoon until they're a paste.
3. Add the broccoli, the pepper, the butter if you're using it. Turn broccoli in the sauce for 4 or 5 minutes. Taste for salt.
4. Add the sauce to the cooked pasta, add the tablespoon of butter and cheese(s). Serve hot.

Update: I have learned in a comment from the great Marcella Hazan that the Classic Italian Cooking books are now in a different format, available as Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. I think I will have to order this book since my paperbacks are the worse for years of heavy use, and this book has more recipes and techniques.