Pasta + Broccolo Romanesco + Pesto

Video, Recipe, and Links

I have a confession to make: one of my favorite ways to prepare pasta at home has little to no roots in traditional Italian cooking. I use local seasonal ingredients and the best dried pasta I can find. So far, so very Italian.

But when it’s time to toss the pasta into the boiling water, my recipe takes a slight detour—I also add vegetables.

I first learned this technique when my mother-in-law taught me how to make orecchiette con le cime di rapa. In this traditional Pugliese recipe, the ear-shaped pasta is cooked alongside a local variety of broccoli rabe. It took me ages to get the timing just right so that the pasta was perfectly al dente while the vegetables didn’t completely disintegrate.

In this classic dish, cooked pasta and greens are gently tossed with a flavorful mixture of olive oil, garlic, and anchovies. Except for the Ligurian recipe for making pesto by boiling potatoes and green beans along with the pasta, I can’t find any other examples of this method of preparing pasta. That is: throwing both veggies and pasta in one pot.

Over the years, I’ve borrowed this brilliant idea of one-pot cooking and have experimented with almost every combination of pasta, vegetables, and condiments I could think of. And have completely left any sort of Italian basis behind. Last weekend, I tried a new combo