Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Rotini con Broccoli in Garlic/Butter/Olive Oil Sauce

We've eaten broccoli for four straight days here at the Nasty Ranch. It's harvest time for that stuff in the garden.

So I went back to a recipe I learned very early on, back in the early 90s when I was just learning to cook back in Kirksville. The original recipe that I worked with at the house on South Mulanix used asparagus, but broccoli's what's in season right now. And, heck, I like broccoli better than asparagus anyway.

Here are the ingredients:

2-3 large heads of broccoli cut into small florets

1 box of rotini pasta (use whatever pasta you like)

5-7 cloves of garlic, chopped roughly

half of a Vidalia onion, chopped finely

4-6 tablespoons of butter

2-4 tablespoons of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Smidge of crushed red pepper flakes

Grated parmesan cheese

Wedges of lemon

Once the water for pasta gets boiling and you've dropped the pasta in, put the onion in a bit of olive oil and sweat it for a while. Then drop in the butter and garlic together and cook the garlic for maybe 2-3 minutes on medium heat. Then drop in the broccoli and turn up to medium-high heat. Later on while cooking the broccoli add salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

By the time you've drained the pasta, the broccoli in the Garlic/Butter/Olive Oil Sauce should be ready and combine the pasta and veggies with sauce in large bowl.

When serving, liberally cover the dish in parmesan cheese and squeeze lemon over the dish.