Egypt’s all-time favorite fast meal is ta’ameya (Egyptian falafel). Falafel is typically cooked with ground chickpeas in the Middle East. But in Egypt, we cook it with dried fava beans. The finest accompaniments for these are pita bread, tomato, onions, and tahini sauce.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 45 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons raisins
- 1 (12 ounce) package rigatoni pasta
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 4 anchovy fillets
- 2 tablespoons minced onion
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 head broccoli, separated into florets
- 4 saffron threads
- 2 tablespoons pine nuts
- 1 pinch ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup toasted bread crumbs
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons toasted bread crumbs
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Soak raisins in warm water for 10 minutes; drain and set aside.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook rigatoni in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until tender yet firm to the bite, about 12 minutes.
- At the same time, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly saute anchovies, onions, and garlic, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Mash the anchovies a bit to help them dissolve to create a paste. Add broccoli and begin to saute over medium heat, stirring often to avoid burning. Cook evenly until softened, about 10 minutes. Break up large florets as soon as they softens; ideally, you want bite-sized florets. Add ladles of the pasta water to the skillet as needed to keep the broccoli from burning.
- Add a ladle of pasta water to a small bowl, add the saffron threads, and allow to melt. Add to the broccoli. Mash some of the smaller florets to help create a creamy sauce. Add the pine nuts, raisins, and cinnamon. Stir often.
- Drain cooked pasta, reserving the pasta water. Stir pasta into the skillet. Sprinkle in 1/4 cup bread crumbs and red pepper flakes. Toss to coat, adding a few tablespoons of pasta water if necessary. Drizzle remaining oil and 2 tablespoons bread crumbs over the top and add black pepper. Serve hot.
- You can use paccheri pasta instead if you can find it, or any large pasta like tortiglioni. If you don’t have toasted bread crumbs, toast some stale bread until very brown and grate it on the large teeth of a cheese grater.
- This can easily be made vegan by substituting miso for the anchovies.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 516 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 80 g |
| Cholesterol | 3 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Protein | 17 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 251 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 16 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |