{"slug":"orecchiette-pasta-with-broccoli-sauce","collection":"to-test","is_recipe":true,"visibility":"public","title":"Orecchiette Pasta with Broccoli Sauce","description":"Broccoli steamed until collapsing, then simmered with garlic, chili, and broth and blended into a silky green sauce for short pasta. Vegetarian as written, with white miso in place of the traditional anchovy.","body_md":"1. **Steam the broccoli and cook the pasta:** Steam the florets until very tender — a fork should slide straight through — then chop roughly and set aside. Cook the pasta in about 2L water with 1 tbsp salt. Reserve 240ml (1 cup) of the hot pasta water before draining. To save a pot, set the broccoli in a strainer over the boiling pasta water.\n\n2. **Build the base:** Sauté the shallot, garlic, and chili flakes in the olive oil in a large pan over medium until fragrant and just golden, about 3 minutes. Stir in the miso paste.\n\n3. **Cook the broccoli down:** Add the steamed broccoli, the broth, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to a gentle simmer and start breaking the broccoli apart with a metal spatula — it gets easier as it softens. The goal is for it to collapse into a sauce, so give it time, adding liquid if it tightens up.\n\n4. **Season:** Stir in the lemon zest and pecorino. Simmer gently on low until about half the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is thick and saucy, roughly 10 minutes. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.\n\n5. **Blend:** Add the chopped spinach and blend smooth with an immersion blender right in the pan, or transfer to a blender. The full 45ml of olive oil is what makes it creamy.\n\n6. **Combine:** Add the drained pasta, loosening with the reserved pasta water until it's properly saucy. Taste again for salt, pepper, and chili. A last splash of olive oil or extra pecorino adds richness.\n\n7. **Serve:** Divide among bowls. Good garnishes, any or none: more pecorino, lemon zest, basil ribbons, toasted pine nuts, toasted breadcrumbs, capers, kalamata olives, or a few drops of truffle oil.\n\n## Notes\n\n- **Miso, not anchovy — this is what makes the recipe vegetarian.** The source calls for 1 tsp anchovy paste and offers miso as the substitute; that has been inverted here. White miso gives the same savory backbone without fish. Use anchovy paste for the source's version, but then the dish is not vegetarian, despite how the source labels it.\n- **Footnote on the pecorino:** Pecorino Romano is traditionally set with animal rennet, so it isn't vegetarian in the strictest sense. Noted for completeness only — not a substitution. If you do swap in parmesan, adjust salt upward; pecorino is markedly saltier.\n- Grate the cheese yourself. Pre-grated pecorino and parmesan carry anti-caking agents that clump rather than melting into the sauce.\n- **The regional attribution is doubtful.** The source calls this Tuscan, but orecchiette is the signature pasta of Puglia and pasta con broccoli belongs to the southern repertoire. Treated here as the source's claim, not a fact — hence the `Italian` theme rather than a regional one.\n- The spinach is not traditional; it keeps the sauce vividly green through blending.\n- Broccoli is given by weight only. The source's \"about 6 cups packed\" doesn't reconcile with 340g — 6 cups of florets is closer to 500g — so trust the weight.\n- Vegetable broth only; the source offered chicken broth as an alternative, dropped here.\n- The garnish list lives in step 7 rather than the ingredients, so a shopping list doesn't ask you to buy all eight.\n- Leftovers keep 4 days airtight in the fridge. Reheat gently with a splash of water.\n- Amounts are metric-first; the source was written in US units. Instructions rewritten in house voice — see the source link for the original.\n","draft":false,"servings":"4","prep_time":"5 minutes","cook_time":"25 minutes","total_time":"30 minutes","source_name":"Feasting at Home","source_url":"https://www.feastingathome.com/orecchiette-pasta-with-broccoli-sauce/","created_at":"2026-07-04T00:16:13.293753Z","updated_at":"2026-07-30T01:00:49.048213Z","categories":["Main"],"tags":["Broccoli","Garlic","Italian","Lemon","Pasta","Vegetarian","Weeknight"],"methods":["blending","Stove-Top"],"themes":["Italian","Vegetarian"],"ingredients":[{"section":"","items":["340g (12 oz) broccoli florets, cut into small, evenly sized pieces","225g (8 oz) short pasta — orecchiette, penne, or rigatoni","45ml (3 tbsp) olive oil","1 large shallot, diced (or ½ a white or yellow onion)","6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped","1 tsp white miso paste","480ml (2 cups) vegetable broth","1–2 tsp lemon zest","30g (¼ cup) pecorino, freshly grated","A small handful baby spinach or arugula, chopped","Generous pinch chili flakes, Aleppo or Urfa biber if you have it","Salt and black pepper, to taste"],"parsed":[{"raw":"340g (12 oz) broccoli florets, cut into small, evenly sized pieces","qty":340,"unit":"g","item":"broccoli florets","prep":"cut into small, evenly sized pieces"},{"raw":"225g (8 oz) short pasta — orecchiette, penne, or rigatoni","qty":225,"unit":"g","item":"short pasta — orecchiette, penne, or rigatoni"},{"raw":"45ml (3 tbsp) olive oil","qty":45,"unit":"ml","item":"olive oil"},{"raw":"1 large shallot, diced (or ½ a white or yellow onion)","qty":1,"item":"large shallot","prep":"diced"},{"raw":"6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped","qty":6,"item":"garlic cloves","prep":"roughly chopped"},{"raw":"1 tsp white miso paste","qty":1,"unit":"tsp","item":"white miso paste"},{"raw":"480ml (2 cups) vegetable broth","qty":480,"unit":"ml","item":"vegetable broth"},{"raw":"1–2 tsp lemon zest","qty":1,"qty_max":2,"unit":"tsp","item":"lemon zest"},{"raw":"30g (¼ cup) pecorino, freshly grated","qty":30,"unit":"g","item":"pecorino","prep":"freshly grated"},{"raw":"A small handful baby spinach or arugula, chopped","item":"A small handful baby spinach or arugula","prep":"chopped"},{"raw":"Generous pinch chili flakes, Aleppo or Urfa biber if you have it","item":"Generous pinch chili flakes, Aleppo or Urfa biber if you have it"},{"raw":"Salt and black pepper, to taste","item":"Salt and black pepper, to taste"}]}],"servings_int":4,"qc":{"status":"passed","last_checked_at":"2026-07-30T02:06:18.762655Z","checked_by":"robert@sigler.io","standard_version":"2026-07-29","findings_count":0,"stale":false}}