Chicken broccoli pasta Alfredo

Heat a pot of water for the pasta with a big pinch of salt; heat a shallow pot of water for the steamer basket.

Trim the broccoli florets and halve big ones. Smash, peel and trim the garlic for chopping later.

Slice the thick chicken breast horizontally into two pieces half as thick, going slowly with a sharp knife. Season with pepper; go light with salt on thin meat.

Heat the saute pan on the hottest burner until very hot.

Heat until the oil is about to smoke; lay in the chicken seasoned side down and season the top sides.

Drop about a quarter box of pasta into the boiling water, set a timer for the package time, and stir early so the noodles do not stick.

Put the broccoli in the steamer basket and cover. Take the lid off the pasta when it starts to boil over.

When side A is well browned and releases, flip; high heat is fine because the pieces are thin.

Test the broccoli with a fork until fork tender. Chop the garlic.

With both sides seared, flip every 20 seconds or so to finish before the pan scorches. Check doneness by poking or cutting into the center; take pieces out slightly underdone and wrap tightly in foil to rest and carry over.

Kill the heat and finish the last piece in the residual heat.

Rinse and roughly scrub the pan to keep the sauce white. Melt a big knob of butter over moderate heat.

Pull the steamer basket out of the pot.

Add the chopped garlic for just a few seconds to take the edge off, then add a pint of cream.

Drain the pasta using the pot lid.

Bring the cream to a boil and cook it down, stirring or lowering the heat so it does not boil over. Add pepper.

When almost thick enough, kill the heat, wait until the bubbling almost stops, and grate in the cheese, melting it slowly with the leftover heat. Do not let it boil or it splits and goes gritty and greasy. No salt needed.

Plate the pasta and broccoli, pour the sauce over the undressed pasta and on the broccoli, top with the rested chicken. Loosen sauce that has thickened with a little milk.