Needy of comfort food? Autumn lows? Grey sky and drizzle?
This was my mood when I stop working at 6pm today.
So I took my little energy left and went out for some good rewarding food shopping!
It's broccoli season and despite they are not the friendliest veggie they can be a secret ally in the kitchen.
One of the most popular dish in southern Italy is orecchiette with broccoli and for a luscious treat salsiccia is added to the mix. So I decided to make this traditional southern dish with a northern twist
Ingredients for 4-6 people (great leftover and lunch box for the week!)
- 400g Italian style sausage
- 300g violet broccoli
- 300g young sprout broccoli
- lasagna sheets
- EVO oil
- 150g grated Parmesan
- 1 glass of good quality red wine
- 100g plain flour
- nutmeg and black pepper to taste
Preparation
Boil the broccoli in salted boiling water. In the meantime cool chop the sausage and pan-fry with the red wine until properly cooked. Once the broccoli are ready, drain and chop them, mix with the sausage, add EVO oil and let the flavour mix for 5-10 min.
Keep the water from the broccoli, add the flour, some grated nutmeg and black pepper and EVO oil. Bring to boil, keep stirring to avoid the mix sticking to the pan and prepare the besciamella.
Then start layering out the lasagna in the baking dish.
Sprinkle Parmesan in between layers and on top of the final layer for a golden crust crust.
Heat the oven to 180degree and place the lasagna to cook for 40-45 min.
Wait 10-15 min before serving. Much better the day after!
Pair with a good Pinot noir. We had 2013 Bruno Sorg from Alsace and it was superb - strong enough to balance the umami and fat from salsiccia and light to balance the heaviness from the lasagna.
