This Broccoli and Chorizo Pasta is a quick and easy mid-week meal packed with flavor and ready in just 20 minutes. The punchy chorizo sausage is key here. It gives this easy pasta dish so much flavor. It gives off its delicious paprika and garlic spiced oil as it is fried. This oil is then used to make an almost instant sauce that coats the spaghetti. The broccoli is cooked with the pasta and adds a great earthy taste to the dish.
1small head broccoli (cut into florets) - see note 5
4clovesgarlic- minced
½teaspoonpaprika
½teaspoonsmoked paprika
½teaspoondried Italian herbs
¼-½teaspoonred pepper flakes– optional
salt and pepper
parmesan- for garnish
Instructions
Bring a large pan of water to a boil, and add the salt.1 tablespoon salt
Add the pasta and set a timer for 1 minute less than the suggested cooking time.12oz/340g pasta
When the pasta has 2-3 minutes left to cook, add the prepared broccoli. (see note 3)1 head of broccoli florets
Before draining the pasta, reserve 2 cups of the pasta cooking water.
While the pasta is cooking
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over high heat.¼ cup olive oil
Add the chorizo, use a spatula to break it up in the pan, and fry for 5 minutes, occasionally turning, until golden and crispy. (see note 2 if you have a cured chorizo sausage).2 cups of chorizo
Remove the chorizo from the frying pan, keeping the oil behind.
Add the garlic, paprika, Italian herbs, and pepper flakes (if using). Give this a good stir and then immediately add a ½ cup of the pasta cooking liquid to the pan and bring to a boil.4 minced garlic cloves ½ teaspoon paprika ½ teaspoon smoked paprika ½ teaspoon dried Italian herbs ¼-½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
Add the drained pasta and broccoli and toss to coat the pasta well in the oily sauce. Once the liquid has been absorbed, add ¼ cup more of the cooking water and stir the pasta to coat. Test your pasta. It should be perfectly cooked and well seasoned. Add extra salt and pepper as needed.salt and pepper to taste
Add the chorizo and any oil that has collected on the plate.
Serve the pasta, adding parmesan if you want.grated parmesan
Notes
It seems like a lot of salt, but don't reduce it. It is what seasons the pasta inside as well as outside. It makes so much difference I promise.
A long pasta like spaghetti, linguine, angel hair, or fusilli lunghi works perfectly for this recipe! If you want to use a pasta shape, avoid anything tubular and go for something like fusilli, orecchiette, or farfalle (bowtie pasta).
If you want to use a cured or semi-cured Spanish-style chorizo sausage, then slice this into thick disks before frying in the olive oil.
Depending on your chorizo you may need to add extra olive oil to your pan.
Cook fresh broccoli for 3 minutes in the pasta water, and cook frozen broccoli for just two minutes. If you like very soft broccoli, you can add an extra minute.