Pasta Cooked Like a Risotto

fx

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:42:43 GMT

Glad it worked for you Xavier, indeed it"s really fun and ideal for students cooking in a small space, it used to be a staple on my menu. Perhaps in the future I"ll make an article about the tortilla soup, another great one-pot-treat!

Xavier

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:11:32 GMT

I did this dish at home yesterday and I was ashamed I had not discovered it earlier. Not only it tastes great but it is so convenient.
- Only one pan and one cutting board to clean
- A thick sauce in less than half an hour cooking
- More control of the perfect time to cook the pasta and the vegetables. Only the right time to add the brocoli can be a little tricky to determine.
- Easy dish to do while chatting and drinking with your guests (sorry but I did not wait for the mantecare to open the wine).

I have definitely added this technique to my "repertoire" and will consider to adapt it to other pasta dishes.

Thanks again !

fx

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:49:49 GMT

Steve, in fact you can add the water cup by cup (250ml) and follow the instructions, it should work fine.

Steve

Mon, 2 Mar 2009 16:15:44 GMT

How much water is a "bowl of water"?

Steve

fx

Thu, 4 Sep 2008 08:18:12 GMT

Ronny, the whole idea of this dish and its poetry stems from cooking everything in the same pot, but you are very right that you could parboil the broccoli and then add them to the pasta, this would be safer in terms of cooking time.

Ronny

Wed, 3 Sep 2008 18:35:20 GMT

I think it"s pretty neat that you can bring foodie joy across the globe.

Anyways, couldn"t you cook the broccoli first and then add it to the pasta?

fx

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:02:06 GMT

Fity, I use mostly canned tomatoes as we just can"t find proper ripe and tasty tomatoes around my parts.

Fity

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:30:05 GMT

Ciao Francois!

Merci bien pour ton website fantastique!
I just stumbled upon your fantastic website while looking for pasta with broccoli recipe. Can"t wait to try out this dish! One question though, the"crushed tomatoes" in this recipe, does it refer to fresh or canned tomatoes?

PS. Made your broccoli affogati the other night and it was deliciously yummy!!!

fx

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:22:51 GMT

Bart, sounds like you had a mighty fine time! I think pasta cooked like this might be better than restaurant-grade, the pasta served in restaurants is often precooked and lingers in hot water for hours, waiting for an order from unsuspecting diners. One thing restaurants do that is in common with this recipe is use some of the starch released by the pasta in the water to firm up the sauce, but cooking the pasta like a risotto is really not possible in a restaurant setting as you"ll need one cook"s constant attention per pot for 10-15 minutes. Ducasse does it.

Bart

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:29:41 GMT

I made this recipe tonight, but I used broccoli rabe (rapini) instead of broccoli, since I had the broccoli rabe in my CSA box. Other than that, and using a chipotle in adobo, I made the recipe as is described.

Oh mon Dieu! C"etait formidablissimo!!! This is probably the best pasta dish I"ve ever made! The texture of the orecchette was faboulous -- some were a bit firmer than others and it provided a very nice mouth feel over the usually bland and uniform texture of other pasta dishes. And the sauce was rich, complex, and unlike any other sauce I"ve ever tasted. I made sure to add some fresh lemon juice at the end (as I do with almost any pasta dish). And I agree: the anchovies are an absolute necessity to add the necessary je ne sais quoi.

We ate it with a salad of greens that I made with a vinaigrette of sherry vinegar, caramelized shallots, garlic, and scallion. The extra acid in the salad was a very nice foil for the fatty richness in the sauce (from the pecorino). My partner"s comment was, "This is restaurant-quality." Indeed it was. A+

fx

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 16:21:03 GMT

Thank you for your email, definitely there are many pasta dishes you can cook like a risotto!

Cynthia

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:59:13 GMT

Hmmm.. Marco, a lady born in Cetona recently offered us a dish prepared in a similar fashion with fresh porcini mushrooms, and a bit of boar sausage, using commercial Barilla penne and chicken broth as the liquid. The pasta came out incredibly tasty as it had absorbed the mushroom flavor through and through. Nicely dense and chewy, similar to but better than baked pasta, (but without the yummy crusty bits). I think you could try this method with any pasta and almost any liquid, as long as you keep an eye on it as you would do with risotto anyway.

FX Hartigan

Sat, 2 Jun 2007 16:24:12 GMT

How pure, clean, authentic. I can"t wait to try it.

Marco G.

Tue, 22 May 2007 18:19:35 GMT

Congratulations for the intriguing suggestion. I do have some reservations though. Don"t assimilate orecchiette with all other kind of pasta. I believe that if you try this method with penne or fusilli, you will get all but a nice lump of glue :-) The difference between proper cooking time of orecchiette vs. penne is of 15 min. vs. 6 min. Also, orecchiette dough has a higher percentage of durum semolina compared to all other kind of commercial pasta.I commend you for the creativity. Please leave proper pasta to the Italians (and the Chinese) :-)Buon appetito!