This Friday night dinner has all the ingredients for a classic broccoli sausage pasta. The broccoli will cook to mushy (counterintuitive for anyone traumatized by mushy school lunches, but trust me when I say that’s a good thing here).
timing
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
service
Four
material
- Olive oil for frying (plus a little extra oil for serving)
- Cut the onion into thin wedges
- 3 cloves garlic (finely sliced)
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
- 2 660g jars (or about 3 cans) of cannellini beans
- 400ml water
- Parmesan rind and a handful of grated cheese (add more for garnishing)
- Cut a large head of broccoli (or 2 small broccoli) into florets.
- 6 sausages
- 2 lemons (squeezed juice)
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
Method
- First, make the bean base. Pour a generous amount of olive oil into a large casserole pan with a lid and heat over medium-low heat. Once hot, add the onions and a pinch of salt. Cover and sweat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Add fennel seeds and chili flakes and cook, stirring, for another minute.
- Add the jar of beans and their spirit to the pot, along with additional water, Parmesan rind, and another pinch of salt. Stir, cover, and bring to a boil. Cook for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and prepare a bowl of ice water. Boil the broccoli for 6 minutes. Then remove it straight from the pan with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl to stop the broccoli from cooking.
- Next time, fry the sausage. Add oil to a frying pan and heat over medium heat. If you sandwich the sausage in the pot, you will get a lot of small nuggets. Fry until golden brown.
- Chop the broccoli stalks and add all the broccoli to the bean pot along with the lemon juice and white wine vinegar. Cook for another 6 minutes, stirring occasionally and breaking up the broccoli heads with the back of a wooden spoon. I want it to collapse a lot.
- Turn off the heat, stir in the grated Parmesan cheese and let stand, covered, for 1 minute.
- Place the beans in a warm bowl and top with the crispy sausage, extra Parmesan cheese, and a drizzle of good quality olive oil.