Leftover Broccoli Sauce

You know that thing where you buy two big bunches of broccoli for dinner one night and then you only end up using one bunch so the other bunch sits in your refrigerator in a plastic bag for a week? And then, one week later, you look at it and kind of feel sorry for it and don't want to throw it away but at the same time it's kind of limper than it was one week earlier: less Jessica Rabbit, more Jessica Tandy? Here's something you can do.

Cut that sad leftover broccoli into florets.

IMG_5861

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and in a skillet add 1/4 cup olive oil, 4 or 5 cloves of garlic, sliced thin, and 3 or 4 anchovies.

When the water's at a boil, salt it heavily and drop in a box of ziti. Meanwhile, crank up the heat on the pan with the oil, garlic and anchovies. The scene will look something like this:

IMG_5863

When the anchovies have melted into the oil and the garlic is fragrant, add a sprinkling of red chile flakes and then all of your broccoli. Sprinkle with salt and then stir the broccoli in with the oil so the broccoli fries a little bit. It won't turn brown, but it'll put on a nice coat of that garlic oil mixture before you stop the garlic from burning by adding a ladleful of your pasta cooking water.

That's the trick, really, to turn anything in a pan with garlic, oil and anchovies into a sauce: add the pasta water. Boom. That's what you see in the picture at the top of this post. That's what forms the Leftover Broccoli Sauce that gives this post its name.

Now it's all about timing. When the pasta is just about ready, add lemon zest and lemon juice to the pan with the broccoli. Lift the pasta into the pan with the broccoli sauce and allow it to finish cooking in there, with the heat cranked up high. (That way the pasta absorbs all of that garlic anchovy flavor too.)

When the pan's pretty dry, take it off the heat, drizzle with good olive oil and a big healthy sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. Behold:

IMG_5866

I'm going to tell you a secret: this dinner was so incredibly tasty, I ate way more than I should have. In fact, I ate every last bite. Something about that combination of garlic, anchovy, and broccoli is magic: maybe because the broccoli acts like a sponge and soaks up all that garlicky, briny goodness? I'm not sure.

But the next time your broccoli ages past its prime, don't throw it away. Make Leftover Broccoli Sauce and that broccoli will be a winner just like Jessica Tandy was a winner in 1990 when she won the Oscar for "Driving Miss Daisy."

Related Posts:

Print Friendly and PDF
Previous
Previous

Chicken Liver Toast & The Secret To A Good Chicken Salad

Next
Next

Lebanese Chickpea Stew