Cozze e broccoli

I had this idea in mind: a nice dish of pasta with mussels and broccoli. The problem was, as you can understand from the picture, that I cooked broccoli too much and all I end up with were just the stalks, while the nice green flowers were all over my sink… So, in the recipe, you will find the time you should cook the broccoli, and not the time I actually cooked them… Mess happens, even in the “best kitchens” (Ah! Ah! Ah!)…

1 kg of Spanish mussels
250 g of macheroni, mezze maniche, rigatoni or penne
1 broccoli flower
extra virgin olive oil
chilli pepper
garlic
parsley
1 glass of white wine (plus more for your lunch and while you are cooking!)

Begin by preparing the mussels. clean them under running cold water and discard all the open shells. Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a heavy sauce pan and add garlic, chilli pepper and parsley (as much as you like for everything), then add mussels, let them stir fry a bit, add the wine and let them cook, covered, for 5-10 minutes, until all the shells are wide open.
Bring to the boil a big sauce pan filled with salted water and once it’s boiling add the pasta. Five minutes before the pasta is cooked (al dente, remind you! So if on the package is stated 14 minutes, cook the pasta for 12), add the broccoli flowers. Drain everything and add it to the pan with the mussels and let it cook for other two minutes, stirring constantly. Serve, sprinkled with some minced parsley.