Donal Skehan cooks up a quick and tasty pasta dish.
Ingredients
- 300 g orecchiette or other smaller pasta pieces
- 1 head of broccoli cut into florets
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1-2 teaspoons dried chilli flakes
- 3 cloves of garlic finely sliced
- 1 tblsp olive oil
- 150 g goats cheese
- a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil and drop the broccoli florets in.
- Allow to cook for 3-4 minutes until just tender, remove from the pot and refresh in a bowl filled with ice cold water.
- Bring the pot of water back to the boil, add in the orecchiette and cook according to the instructions on the packet, or for about 12-15 minutes until al dente.
- While the pasta is cooking add a good drop of olive oil to a frying pan over a medium high heat and fry the chilli flakes and garlic for 3-4 minutes.
- Drain the broccoli and then add it to the pan, tossing to combine.
- When the pasta is cooked drain it and place it back in the pot.
- Toss through the broccoli, chilli and garlic and season with sea salt and ground black pepper.
- Add the lemon zest and crumble in the goats cheese.
- Gently fold the goats cheese in so that it doesn’t break up and melt completely.
- Serve the pasta straight away with a final drizzle of extra version olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Method
- Try using different types of pasta, I'm using orrichiette but you could use, penne, fusili or rigatoni.
- If you end up with a glut of lemons, don't let them go to waste, you can zest and juice them and freeze them in resealable bags, perfect for adding a fresh zing to dishes just like this.
- Try and use the best quality extra virgin olive oil to taste. It's best used to dress salads and finish dishes and looses it's flavour when used at high temperatures.
- If you're worried about your pasta sticking together, don't add oil just ensure you have a large pot of water allowing the pasta the space to cook will make sure it doesn't stick. Also make sure not to overcook the pasta.
