Broccoli Pasta Sauce

No, I didn’t make a mistake with the title. The dish really is a Broccoli Pasta Sauce. A rather amazing and totally delicious sauce at that. This is definitely a “don’t judge a book by its cover” type deal and is inspired by Tea and Cookies. Enjoy!

Broccoli Pasta Sauce – Don’t judge a book by its cover.

[ Serves: 4 | Time: 15 Minutes | Cost: $4 ]
[ Joes Rating: 4 / 5 | My Rating: 4 / 5 | Brittanys rating: 4 / 5 ]

Ingredients

5 cups broccoli
1 onion, diced
5 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lemon, juiced
3 tablespoons water
Salt and pepper to taste
Pecorino Cheese to taste

Method

1. Wash the broccoli and cut it into bite size chunks, including the stems. Steam or boil the broccoli until it is tender – about 10 minutes.
2. In a large frying pan, bring a drizzle of oil to temperature and fry of the onion and garlic until transparent. Add the drained broccoli and saute for a few minutes until tender and coated in the oil and onion mixture.
3. Pour the broccoli and onion mixture into a blender. Add the oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and blend until smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add a little water.
4. Mix through hot pasta and serve with grated cheese.

Season it well and serve with grated pecorino cheese

Observations

• Reserve the water from the boiling / steaming process to use to thin out the sauce during the blending stage. Also, reserving vegetable water is perfect for feeding sourdough starter!
• I was honestly so surprised at the taste of this dish. I was even more surprised at how Brittany loved it. Seriously, the child lapped it all up and was looking for more! Definitely a winner.
• Diabetic Note: Ok, so pasta is naughty. And I struggle really hard when I do eat it. Be wary of your serving size and opt for more sauce than pasta and you *might* be ok. (Remember, pasta is ~70% carbohydrates.)
• Ethical Note: Oh how awesome is this recipe. You use the stems too. Far too often broccoli stems are discarded as waste even though they are delicious and totally edible.
• Did you get all the way to the bottom and are still trying to work out why I haven’t gotten duck recipe #2 published yet? Tomorrow guys, I promise! 🙂

This is my portion. I try to make it small and keep to 1 cup cooked pasta.

Advertisements

 

Wilted vegetables grace my plate and not the landfill.

What to do for dinner at the end of the week? Surely there isn’t anything still worth eating this close to shop day? Wrong!

This meal consisted of some wilted Asian greens (refreshed with some steaming), ageing broccoli (that brightened considerably after a quick dip in some hot salty water), zucchini fried in spring onions and garlic served on day old brown rice. And – it was delicious!

Make a commitment to reduce your waste and use all of your fresh produce rather than sending it to land fill. The earth will thank you for it.