pasta with broccoli pesto, broccoli stems, basil, and scamorza

This is adapted, slightly, from this Food52 recipe. It's very rich, one of the least healthy things you can do to broccoli -- the kind of thing that can convert broccoli haters, if that's you. The stems here are sweet, amazing, and a totally different beast than steamed broccoli.

This is also fairly time-intensive, but in the way that is absolutely worth it.

vegetarian/vegan?

Vegetarian if your scamorza cheese is rennet-free.

ingredients

• 1 box of rigatoni or some other fairly large pasta.
• 1-2 large bunches of broccoli (with plenty of stem; not precut), depending on how much you like broccoli.
• Some proportional amount of nuts: pine nuts, walnuts, whatever.
• Quite a bit of basil -- enough to make the pesto taste of basil while also having some leaves left over to add raw.
• A healthy amount of garlic (the recipe calls for 2 cloves, convert to your personal garlic needs)
• 1/2 pound scamorza or smoked mozzarella. The former will be smokier, the latter will be less dry. You could use regular mozzarella too -- the smoke does add a lot, but broccoli and cheese is pretty unfuckupable as a combo.
• A lot of olive oil
• 1 lemon, with juice and zest
• Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, the usual stuff
• Optional: Romano cheese

directions

1. Cut the broccoli into florets and save the stems -- you want as much stem removed as possible.
   Get a baking sheet, toss the florets with olive oil, salt and pepper (either in a mixing bowl or on the baking sheet) and roast on high heat until they're slightly browned.
2. While the broccoli florets roast, peel off the outer layer of the broccoli stems with a knife or vegetable peeler, enough that the stems are easily chewable.
   This is, I will be up front, an absolute pain in the ass. Unfortunately -- or fortunately -- it is the kind of pain in the ass that 100% is worth it.
3. Cut the stems into slivers if they're large, then saute in a pan with olive oil until they brown.
   Ideally, use a large cast-iron pan or something else that's both large and oven-safe; this will save a dish later on.
   
4. Add the roasted broccoli florets to a food processor with the nuts, most of the basil, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and some olive oil (maybe use a light touch; when I made this the first time, the broccoli had enough oil already that the finished product was a bit oily even for me).
   Blend everything until it creates a rough, crumbly pesto.
   Don't worry about the proportions too much, pesto is not so much chemistry but a vibe.
5. Boil water, add salt, add pasta, then cook the pasta until it's slightly underdone. Drain the pasta water and add the pesto and broccoli stems.
6. Grate half the cheese into the pasta and add everything to a pan or baking dish, possibly the one you used for the broccoli stems. Slice the other half of the cheese over top, and spread it out.
   Bake at 450 until the cheese browns.
7. Remove the pasta from the oven. Tear up the rest of the basil and add it on top (or sliver the basil if you want to be ~aesthetic~ about it).
   Add pepper and red pepper flakes to taste, and maybe some extra lemon juice.
8. The original recipe suggests adding grated romano cheese at the end. For me this is plenty cheesy as is -- but I mean, the recipe did give you permission to be your cheesiest self.

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