Orecchiette with broccoli, anchovies and cherry tomatoes

orecchiette with broccoli

Yeah, yeah. Two recipes in a row containing cherry tomatoes…Where’s my imagination? Well…first of all I really like them. Secondly, I was simply finishing off the other half of the punnet used in the cod recipe…Foxy lady or what? This is an extremely quick pasta recipe, which is also very wholesome. You can make the sauce while the pasta (orecchiette in this case) is cooking. I had a bit of a panic attack when Sainsbury (my local supermarket) stopped stocking the orecchiette, which go particularly well with this sauce. They used to sell the fresh variety too (together with trofie) but then, much to my chagrin, POOF! they vanished. I suspect not enough people in the neighbourhood were buying them…Oh well! Luckily some of my “informers” (read: other Italian people living in the UK) told me that another chain of supermarkets (Tesco) sold them. Guess who cleared their shelves? Enough rambling and let’s get cooking!

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people)
 
400-500 gr. orecchiette
2 heads of broccoli
14-16 cherry tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
a couple of tablespoons toasted pine kernels
1 small tin of anchovies fillets (approx. eight)
2 tablespoons olive oil
a few leaves of fresh basil (optional)
PREPARATION
Cut the stalk off the broccoli, divide into florets and chuck in the pan of salted boiling water at the same time of the orecchiette. While they are cooking  prepare the sauce by heating the oil in a frying pan together with the whole garlic cloves (this will flavour the oil). Gently shallow fry  for a minute or so then add the cherry tomatoes and cook them until theyhave browned a bit (5-6 minutes) . Add the anchovies and continue cooking for a few more minutes. They will melt away. Finally add the pine kernels and the basil. Drain the pasta (the broccoli will have gone all soft and creamy) and dress with the sauce. Stir well, sprinkle with grated parmesan and enjoy!

Related posts:

4 Responses to “Orecchiette with broccoli, anchovies and cherry tomatoes”


  • Complimenti ai colori di questa gran bella ricetta. In sintonia con i festeggiamenti dei 150 anni dell’ Unita’ d’Italia.
    Brava Lucina, ci vuole un po’ d’ orgoglio nazionale. :-)
    Poiche’ hai scelto un tipo di pasta rigorosamente del sud, ti suggerisco di provare la nostra versione: una spolverizzata di mollica abbrustolita da aggiungere alla fine, a piatto completato.
    Provare per credere ………

  • I never thought of the Italian flag when I cooked it but I suppose you are right Carmelita! The three colours are there… Well spotted! I will definitely follow your advice and add the toasted breadcrumbs. Sounds good to me!

  • Oh oh, diciamo che una volta alla settimana faccio la pasta coi broccoli ma non mi era mai venuto in mente di metterci i pomodorini e tanto meno la mollica abbrustolita. Ottimo. Lucina, il tuo post andrebbe psicoanalizzato: mentre scrivevi della mancanza delle orecchiette, cioè cibo di casa e non importa se non sei del Sud, l’Italia è per fortuna una sola, postavi una ricetta tricolore senza neanche accorgertene. Bizzarro!

  • Clearly subconsciously I miss Italy, my dear Candi! :-)

Leave a Reply