Taking it to another level

Alright, so far I was just kidding. But now I wanna give you guys a real recipe. As most of my recipes, the measures are not rigorous, since when you love to cook, you just "go by eye", like we say in Italy; but I always try to give reasonable numbers. You will better them with experience. Also, they (the recipes) usually don't have a name. This one I will call it "Pasta with broccoli". The best type of pasta would be "Orecchiette" (literally, small ears), but also something else like medium shelves or penne will be ok. However, don't do this recipe with "spaghetti" or some "smooth" pasta. Imho, it would lose 30% of his awesomeness.

Pasta with broccoli


Ingredients (2 people): green broccoli (2 bushes), breadcrumbs (1/2 cup), red pepper (whole is better but grounded still works), oil, salt, pasta (2/5 Lb).

Preparation:first of all fill a pot with water, enough to boil the broccoli and the pasta inside. When the water boils, add salt (a fist of the coarse one should be fine). Then cut the broccoli bushes in small pieces, but not too small; you can cut the small branches from the main one and that will be about the right size. Of course, you can boil also the main branch. After about 5-6 minutes, you can add the pasta and wait for it to be cooked (follow instructions on the box; usually is around 10 minutes). While the pasta is cooking, put the breadcrumbs in a small pan and toast them, watching out not to burn them (it should take 1-2 minutes, depending on how hot you turn your stove). Also, in another pan, put some oil (1/4-1/3 of a cup) and fry the red peppers for a couple of minutes. If you like them, you might also cut in half a few cherry tomatoes and add them to the red peppers in the pan.

Here, the quantity of peppers to use depends on how much you like spicy food. As a rule of thumb, I would say one of the small ones per person. If you have grounded red pepper, well, 2-3 sprinkles should be ok. When the pasta is done, strain it. Then put the pasta with the broccoli back in the pot and then add the oil and the red pepper on top. Add also the toasted breadcrumbs and stir everything. Your pasta with broccoli is ready to be served.

Note: if you have guests and if you have a pan large enough, it's always cool and stylish if you mix all the ingredients in the pan with the oil and the red peppers, maybe making it jump with the fancy wrist movement very common among chefs. Be careful, cause if you try it and spill pasta on the floor, it might not be that cool and stylish...