Tuesday, October 7, 2008


Pasta Shells with Broccoli and Anchovies

A quick pasta dish that is really easy to put together. You can knock this one out in about 15 minutes and if you don't tell anyone that it has anchovies, they won't even notice it.... The sauce is just olive oil and a little butter...


2 large heads of broccoli

2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
4 anchovy fillets

1 jalapeno (seeded) finely diced

2-3 ozs of butter

1 lb of dried pasta shells

handful of grated parmesan


Trim the broccoli into florets and chop the stems into match sticks. In a saute pan, add a little olive oil and the butter. When the oil is shimmering saute the garlic, japapeno and broccoli stems. Cover with a lid and cook slowly for 8-10 minutes while you cook the pasta in salted boiling water. Add the broccoli florets to the water when the pasta is about 4-5 minutes from being done. This will leave the broccoli soft enough to eat and will maintain the color and texture.

Drain the pasta reserving some of the pasta liquid. Add pasta back to the pan that it was cooked in, season with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste and add the rest of the butter and a handful of the paremsan cheese. Add the sauted stems, garlic, anchovies and chilis and then finish with some good olive oil and you're done. Quick and easy....