Today’s dish is a light yet satisfying pasta – an ideal midweek supper. It’s my vegan take on orecchiette with broccoli and bacon, except that I could not find orecchiette anywhere on the island so I have had to settle for small pasta shells instead. I do hope I don’t get any death threats off the back of it 😉 .
This pasta is as simple as it gets, but it’s really delicious! Lightly charred, well seasoned broccoli goes so well with salty-sweet and crunchy bits of coconut bacon against the background notes of garlic, chilli and lemon. It’s my latest favourite! One thing I have noticed living here is that cooking pasta isn’t possibly a Greek thing. Pretty much every time I’ve ordered pasta while eating out, I ended up getting it overcooked to the point of falling apart. Then I noticed that all Greek pasta brands always massively overestimate (by a good 3-5 minutes!) the cooking time. Once or twice, I let my guard down and followed the timing on the packet and the result was inedible. Perhaps that’s how they like their pasta? I’m not sure, I admit I’m a bit puzzled! This experience has taught me to wait with my pasta cravings until I have a chance to visit Italy and stick to Greek mezedes instead, which I know I will love.
½ cup (loosely packed) raw coconut flakes 1 tsp olive oil 1 tsp maple syrup ¼ tsp liquid smoke (I use hickory flavour) 1 tbsp tamari (if GF) or all purpose soy sauce ½ tsp tomato paste
BROCCOLI AND PASTA
200 g / 7 oz orecchiette pasta or small pasta shells (GF if required) 1 small broccoli 1 tbsp nutritional yeast a few pinches of hot chilli powder (optional) 3 tbsp olive oil 2-3 tbsp lemon juice 2 garlic cloves, finely diced ½ hot red chilli, seeded and finely diced zest of one unwaxed lemon freshly ground pepper, to taste fine sea salt, to taste fresh basil, to decorate (optional)
