Broccoli Pappardelle Pasta with a Cream Sauce

Chop the broccoli into small pieces (but not so small they crumble!), then cook off in a large pan of salted boiling water. Use the stalks as well and chop into smaller chunks. Once the broccoli is soft and tender, remove from the water with a large strainer. Put aside some of the small broccoli heads from the rest (stalks and larger chunks).

Start the sauce by adding the olive oil and butter to a pan on a medium low heat, then once hot add the crushed garlic. Fry this off for around 2-3 minutes, then add the white wine, and fry this off till you can't smell the alcohol anymore (apprx 4-5 minutes). Next stir in the cream, powdered porcini mushroom/mushrooms and stock and reduce the heat to a simmer. You can prepare the mushroom stock from dried porcini mushrooms, or simply use powdered porcini muchrooms if you're lazy like me ! Add the broccoli (except the small pieces), and then whiz up with a hand blender with the pan off the heat till smooth. Next add the small cooked pieces of broccoli to give the sauce some texture. Finally season with salt and pepper to taste.

For the pasta, use the same water as the broccoli was cooked in, and once on a rolling boil, add the fresh pasta and cook for just under the recommended time (it will continue to cook in the sauce). Once cooked drain and mix with a knob of butter to stop sticking.

Combine the pasta and sauce, and serve with a good grating of parmesan and a drizzle of truffle oil (if you have it).