Do you want to know how to make one of the cheapest and simplest tasty pasta dishes ever? Its also pretty low cal too depending on how much cheese you use!

I saw this on another site that I follow called “Sip and Feast” there are some lovely recipes on there and not too difficult. Today I have nothing in my fridge apart from a lonely brocolli thats about to go out of date. I remembered seeing this recipe a while ago so here is my adapted version based on the contents of my fridge and cupboard.

The nice thing about this recipe too is that it is not an exact science – if you want more chilli add it, if you want more cheese chuck it in. It can’t really go wrong!

Ingredients

Serves 4

20 minutes.

1 large brocolli cut into florets and stalk diced.
3 fat garlic cloves – sliced
1 small green chilli – sliced
orecchiette pasta or similar. 4 handfulls for 4 people
Salt and Pepper
Italian hard cheese such as pecorino around 50g grated.
chilli flakes to season.

Boil a large pan of water and add 1 tsp salt. Cut the brocolli into smal florets and cook in the boiling water for just over 5 – 7 minutes then remove from the pan to cool. Using the same water cook your pasta until al dente. DON’T POUR THE WATER DOWN THE DRAIN – this will help to make your sauce.

Don’t throw away the brocolli stalk either – trim the edges and dice.

In a large frying pan or wok heat 1 tbsp olive oil and gently fry the garlic and chilli and diced stalk for a few minutes before adding the brocolli florets. Using a slotted spoon fish the pasta out of the water and add to the frying pan with the grated cheese. Add a ladle of the cooking water and cook and stir gently until everything is warm adding more water if needed. This is not a very saucy dish though, its just to coat the pasta in flavour.

Season with salt, pepper and chilli flakes and serve with a drizzle of olive oil and some more grated cheese on top.