Sicilian broccoli pasta with sausage and chard

Prepare the ingredients

1. Wash the broccoli and cut into florets. Wash the chard and remove most of the stalk. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Wash and finely chop the leeks. Remove the skin from the sausage. Chop the sausage meat.

Start cooking

1. Cook the broccoli for just 4-5 minutes in a large pan of boiling salted water. Remove the broccoli with a slotted spoon but keep the water as you can use it to cook the chard and pasta.
2. Finely chop the leeks and brown in a frying pan or skillet with a little of the olive oil. Add the broccoli to the leeks, stir and leave to simmer on a medium heat. Add a ladle or two of the broccoli cooking water as it starts to dry out.
3. In a separate frying pan, dry fry the sausage meat until nicely browned. You don’t need to add oil as the sausages contain enough fat.
4. In another frying pan, dry toast the pine nuts. When they are ready, put them into a bowl and then heat a little olive oil in the same pan. Add the garlic and cook until slightly soft. Toast the breadcrumbs with the chopped cloves of garlic. 
5. Add the sausage to the broccoli and stir. Season with salt and pepper. Continue to simmer for a little while. You can add a ladle or two more of the broccoli cooking water if it seems dry. As the broccoli and sausage cook you can break them up into smaller pieces if you want. (I kept them quite big) 
6. Blanch the chard in the broccoli cooking water and then remove the leaves from the water and blend in an electric blender with the ice and a little olive oil until well pureed. Keep aside.

Finish the dish

1. Cook the pasta in the boiling broccoli cooking water. Once it is al dente, drain and add to the broccoli and sausage! Add half the chard puree and mix everything together well.
2. Spread some of the remaining chard puree over the bottom of each plate. Place a serving of the pasta with broccoli and sausage on each plate. Sprinkle with toasted pine nuts and garlicky toasted breadcrumbs. Serve immediately.