Alright, we’ve all been there: you’re cooking dinner, and your doorbell rings. You go to answer it, and it’s a friend/neighbor/coworker and you get caught up in conversation, and overcook something.

Tonight was one of those moments for me; a friend and former client from my personal training days stopped by with some various cuts of pork I had ordered from her, after I had already started cooking the broccoli for this recipe.

20 minutes of great conversation and catching up goes by, and poof, the broccoli florets and stalks were about thirty seconds away from becoming broccoli paste.

Thankfully, Marcella Hazan was a wonderful chef, and wrote out recipes that could be absolutely pulverized, and still taste great.

Let’s take a step back, and go to the beginning of the recipe, starting with the ingredients:

1 large bunch of broccoli, about 1 pound
1/3 cup olive oil
6 anchovy fillets (preferably from whole anchovies packed in salt), chopped fine
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
½ pound of short pasta such as orecchiette, conchiglie, or fusilli
2 tablespoons freshly-grated parmigiano-regiano cheese
¼ cup freshly grated romano cheese

1. Detach the broccoli florets from the stalks, but do not discard the stalks; instead, cut the bottom, woodier end of the stalks with a paring knife. Then, take that same paring knife and cut away all the darker green from the stalks and floret stems. Splits the stalks in two, lengthwise, and then place the stalks and florets in cold water, drain, and rinse in fresh cold water.

2. Place the broccoli stalks and florets in an appropriate sized pot of boiling, salted water, and cook for about 3-4 minutes—or until you are just able to pierce the skin of the stems with a fork.

3. Drain the broccoli, and let cool to the touch. Once cool, break up the florets into smaller pieces and cut the stalks into large dice, and set it all aside.

4. Put water in a saucepan and bring to a lively simmer.

5. While waiting for the water to begin simmering, place oil in a sauté pan and place over a burner on low heat. Once the oil begins to warm, take the pan and place it over the sauce pan of simmering water, à la a double boiler. Then, add the anchovies to the sauté pan, and use the back of a wooden spoon to mash the anchovies into a smooth paste.

AHEAD OF TIME NOTE: At this point, you could take the anchovies and refrigerate them, but Marcella nixes refrigerating the broccoli, so why even bother? Just cook everything at the same time.

6. At this point, you should get your pasta water going in an appropriately sized pot. Remember to add salt and oil, and drop the fusilli in once the water begins boiling.

7. Once the anchovies are paste, return the pan to a burner over medium heat. If you ignored my advice and decided to refrigerate the anchovies, reheat them gently, stirring with a wooden spoon (If you even think about using a plastic spoon, Wolfgang Puck will find you and trash you).

8. Add the broccoli florets and diced stalks, and the hot chili peppers ( I also suggest only using half at this point, and then using the other half after the cheese has been sprinkled, but…), and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, turning it fairly consistently to help coat the broccoli with the anchovy paste.

9. Just prior to the broccoli and anchovy sauce is done, your fusilli should also be done. Drain the pasta (remember to keep just a bit of that water in the pot), and add the anchovy and broccoli sauce. Toss until well mixed. Add cheese and toss again. Serve immediately.