Orecchiette with broccoli and chilli sauce 25 MINUTES | SERVES 2 | EASY

The trick here is to steam the broccoli in seasoned olive oil and pasta water until mushy. It emulsifies into a wonderful sauce – sounds weird but it really works. You’ll need a lidded frying pan. Orecchiette means ‘little ears’ in Italian, and it’s the perfect pasta for this dish because little puddles of sauce pool in each one.

orecchiette 200g

extra-virgin olive oil 3 tbsp, plus extra for drizzling

anchovy fillets 2, drained

garlic 4 cloves, thinly sliced

red chilli 1, thinly sliced (or a generous pinch of dried chilli flakes) broccoli 1 large head, broken into very small florets of equal size

parmesan 50g, finely grated, plus extra to serve

flat-leaf parsley a large handful of leaves, finely chopped

• Cook the orecchiette in boiling salted water for 1 minute less than the pack instructions.

• Meanwhile, put the oil, anchovies, garlic and chilli in a cold frying pan and bring up to heat over a medium-high heat. Mash the anchovies with a wooden spoon as they cook and they will dissolve into a paste. As soon as the garlic starts to sizzle, add a ladleful of the pasta cooking water, all the broccoli florets and season. Give it a stir and cover with a lid to steam for 10-15 minutes or until the broccoli is very mushy. Check every now and then to make sure the pan hasn’t gone too dry – if it does, add another splash of pasta water. Remove from the heat.

• Drain the pasta, reserving a cupful of the cooking water. Tip the orecchiette into the frying pan and put back over a medium heat. Add a splash of the reserved pasta water and the parmesan, and toss for 1-2 minutes or until a sauce begins to form and cling to the pasta. Add more of the pasta water if it gets a little dry. Stir through the parsley.

• Divide between two bowls, drizzle over a little extra olive oil, grate over some extra parmesan and crack over a few twists of black pepper. Eat straight away.

PER SERVING 809 KCALS | FAT 32.4G

SATURATES 8.5G | CARBS 88.4G | SUGARS 8G

FIBRE 12.3G | PROTEIN 34.8G | SALT 0.9G