Rigatoni & Broccoli

I had an Italian friend who cooked me this delicious side dish once while she was staying with me in Montreal. I don’t usually make my guests cook for me but she insisted!

Ingredients (serving four):  Broccoli, 1 crown. Rigatoni pasta, one pack (about 4 cups, or half a kilo) Garlic, 4 cloves, finely chopped.  Olive oil, 3 tbsp. Salt and water. Parmesan cheese, 2 tbsp., grated (optional).

Method: Wash broccoli head, release from the base and cut them all into small pieces. In a pot, big enough to hold 4 ½ liters, bring to a boil 3 ½ liters of water. Add the broccoli pieces and salt and cook for 5 minutes, or until they are tender but not too soft. Scoop out the broccoli with a small sieve and transfer into a colander. Keep the water because we are going to need it for the next step. Cover the pot’s lid and bring to a boil one more time. Add rigatoni and cook until it is done at the core. Rinse and transfer to the coriander with your cooked broccoli. Shake the colander a few times hard to mix the two ingredients as much as possible.

In a large frying pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and fry a couple of minutes until slightly golden. Add rigatoni-broccoli mix and fry, while gently stirring. As soon as you have a homogeneous mix, remove from the heat. Serve in bowl or platter warm or cold.  You may sprinkle with cheese if you prefer to serve warm.