My title isn't meant to be offensive to anyone... it's actually what my mother says when she discusses ways to get rid of a cold. Coming from New York, I suppose the so-called "Jewish" remedies of chicken soup and garlic are more well-known than they may be in other parts of the world, and in my house, they're golden as soon as the first stuffy nose and sore throat of winter start to hit.

As soon as I felt my ears start to clog and my head start to go a bit fuzzy last week, the first thing I went for was garlic. However, as an Italian, and not a Jew, the combination was not with chicken but with broccoli, as in one of my favorite side dishes from when I was growing up: broccoli with garlic, olive oil and red pepper. To turn it into a meal, I added macaroni.

I will admit, the dish is quite heavy on garlic... but that's sort of the point. In the end, I was left chewing gum and washing my hands all day, but the cold has miraculously disappeared with hardly a trace.

Pasta with Broccoli and Garlic

1/2 cup uncooked macaroni
1 tsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 cup frozen broccoli
3 whole cayenne peppers
salt and pepper

Cook the macaroni in salted boiling water. In the last two minutes of cooking the macaroni, add the frozen broccoli.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet until hot but not smoking. Add the garlic and cayenne pepper and cook for one minute, until garlic is fragrant. Add salt and pepper to taste, and toss with the macaroni and broccoli. Add more olive oil if necessary.

emiglia
Tomato Kumato