Creamy Broccoli Pasta

Well I am just up after travelling to Gothenberg via Copenhagen last night, and I have a certain sense of accomplishment (and relief!!!) about myself today.  For the last 4 weeks I have been keeping my head down busy writing recipes for the new book and in between all the writing I got the amazing and slightly nerve wracking opportunity to give cooking demonstrations at two of Ireland’s leading foodie festivals, something this time last year I couldn’t even imagine!  Thankfully both went extremely well and it’s funny how things like that can make you nervous before hand but when it comes down to actually doing them, they are thoroughly enjoyable.  I suppose in life there is always goals you lead up to, things that are ahead of you that you know you have to achieve in order to go on to the next step.  The last few weeks have been for me the next step and now on sunny morning in Sweden, it feels great to know that I only have a handful of recipes to write to complete the new book!

I have to admit writing the first book was a bit of a disaster because I was extremely disorganised and generally did not know what I was doing, but having learned from mistakes things have run a lot smoother this time around, I have a set recipe list which was chosen a few months ago and it is just a case of writing in a set format, which makes it both easy for me and everyone else working on it.  I’m dying to give you more details about it and hopefully in the next few weeks when everything is submitted I can give you a bit more info about behind the scenes!  For now though, enjoy this quick and simple creamy broccoli pasta recipe!  Make it a good one! :)

Creamy Broccoli Pasta

I am huge fan of simple pasta dishes which are easy to throw together in a matter of minutes and this one definitely hit’s the spot.  There is a wealth of in season vegetables at the moment and you can easily replace broccoli with asparagus or cauliflower and maybe some broad beans thrown in for good measure.  If you can’t your hands on parpadelle pasta, tagliatelle will do just fine.

Serves 4
250g of papardelle pasta
1 head of brocolli, broken into florets
1 tablespoon of olive oil
4 garlic cloves, sliced finely
200g of cr?me fraiche
Juice of 1 lemon
A generous pinch of sea salt and ground black pepper

Cook the pasta according to the packet.
Steam or boil the broccoli until tender when pierced with a fork, drain and place in a bowl filled with cold water.
Fry the garlic in a large frying pan over a medium heat, for about 1 minute, then add in the cr?me fraiche and bring to a steady simmer.  Add in the lemon juice and season with sea salt and black pepper.
When the pasta is cooked, drain the water and place back into the pot.  Pour in the garlic cr?me fraiche and broccoli and stir through gently until everything is combined.
Serve straight away with an extra sprinkle of black pepper.