Orecchiette alle broccoli e peperoncino
Orecchiette come from Puglia, the heel of the Italian boot. The name means “little ears,” and the pasta is not only a beautiful shape but a very functional one, too. The indentations in the pasta catch the sauce ensuring the most marvellous flavour with every bite.
Traditionally orecchiette are made using a dough of flour, water and olive oil–no eggs here! It’s a very time consuming pasta to make, as each little eat is rolled, cut and shaped by hand. Or by thumb, actually. The final shaping into the characteristic ear shape is done by pressing your thumb into a piece of dough to create the little pocket.
Ideally you would make Orecchiette alle broccoli e peperoncino with broccoli rabe or rapini–sold as tenderstem broccoli in the UK–but regular broccoli is still absolutely delicious.
For such a simple set of ingredients the resulting dish is remarkably complicated in flavour. The bitter and slightly metallic taste of the broccoli melds beautifully with the sweet garlic, salty anchovies and the heat from the chillis.
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