Orchiette, Broccoli and Chard with Anchovy Sauce

Ingredients:

1 box orchiette (aka ‘little ears’)
1 bunch chard, coarsely chopped. Rainbow chard is the way to go, but red Swiss is OK too.
2 bunches broccoli, florets only
1 can/jar anchovies in oil
1 head garlic, coarsely chopped (yes, 1 head)
1 handful pine nuts
crushed chili peppers
olive oil
grated pecorino romano or parmesan

To make it:

Bring a pot of salted water to boil and then blanch the broccoli for 30
seconds or so. Rinse in cold water.

Next, coat the bottom of a large cover-able pan, like a dutch oven or
paella pan, with olive oil. Don’t skimp on the oil. Dump the anchovies
and their oil in the pan with the olive oil and mash them up with the
flat of your spatula until there is an oily paste. Put as many pepper
flakes in as you’d like (I cover the pan with them) and heat over medium
heat.

Next, dump the pasta in the pasta pot.

Now throw the garlic into the hot oil, anchovy and pepper. Stir fry for
30 seconds or so, then put in the chard, broccoli and pine nuts. At
this point, you should have been cooking the pasta for 5 minutes or so
and the water is slightly starchy. Take about 1/2 cup of the pasta
water and stir it into the chard, broccoli, etc. Throw the pine nuts in
too and cover. Continue cooking over medium high heat until the chard
is done and the broccoli is heated through, stirring occasionally.
Drain the orchiette when it’s done and toss it all together in a big
bowl. Put some grated or shaved pecorino or parmesean on top and mangia!

Thanks to Mark Albrecht for this recipe.

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