I discovered this meatless monday dish by accident. I had a store bought jar of pesto and wanted to use it up and ended up finding this broccoli pesto pasta dish. Little did I know it didn't call for pesto at all but instead was referring to the fact that broccoli is used instead of basil leaves to create a pesto like dish. The first time I made it I didn't have pine nuts and I put in a few tablespoons of pesto into the pasta. That was pretty good. I made it before as is without the pine nuts which made me hungry really fast, so I recommend keeping the recipe as is since it is already a vegetarian meal. Every time I've made it I've used penne as the pasta.
Recipe from the BBC Website: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1473/broccoli-pesto-pasta
- 400g penne, farfalle or conchiglie pasta
- 250g broccoli , cut into florets
- 1 garlic clove, peeled
- 1 large lemon
- ½ tsp dried chilli flakes
- 3 tbsp pine nuts
- 5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative), grated
Tip the pasta into a large pan of boiling salted water and cook according to pack instructions. Meanwhile, bring a smaller pan of salted water to the boil, add the broccoli and boil for 4 minutes.
- Drain the broccoli and return it to the pan. Lightly mash the broccoli with a potato masher or fork. Finely grate the garlic and zest the lemon, then mix into the broccoli with the chilli flakes and pine nuts. Cut the lemon in half and keep for later.
- Drain the pasta and return it to the pan. Stir in the broccoli pesto and squeeze over the juice of 1⁄2 lemon. Pour in the olive oil and generously season with salt and pepper. Spoon in the grated Parmesan, toss the pasta well and serve.
