Thursday, February 24, 2011

Pasta and Broccoli

This is a staple meal in our house. I make this so often, we should be sick of this...but we're not! It's a 1 pot wonder as I call it. The pasta is perfectly al dente and the broccoli is tender with a nice crunch every time. It's a quick meal and broccoli has calcium and lots of fiber so its a healthy meal. You could use whole wheat pasta to make it more impactful if you choose. With this recipe, you'll get it perfect every time. I like to buy whats fresh and whats on sale. I always have lots of fresh vegetables in the fridge for recipe's like these.



 You'll need:

1 big head of broccoli, cut into Italian bite size pieces, the kind you have to open your mouth wide to fit in.

5 big pieces of garlic, smashed and cut in half. I leave them big so who ever doesn't want a garlic bit can pick them out....I can't imagine why though.

1 pound pasta, I used mezzi rigatoni, and always use Barilla pasta.

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil.

Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

Salt and Pepper

Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil
Add 1/8 cup salt to water
Add pasta to boiling water. Cook the pasta 7 of the 10-11 minutes suggested on the box.
While pasta is cooking fry garlic in small frying pan in oil until golden.
Add broccoli to pasta and water for minutes 8-10.
Reserve 1/4 cup pasta water then drain pasta and broccoli and return to pot.
Add garlic and oil to pot and mix well.
Divide among 8 bowls (or 6 larger bowls) and add grated cheese and ground pepper to top each bowl.

Total cost for entire meal: $3.75!!!

Tip:
Chocolate brown colored garlic is too dark and tastes like charcoal, so shoot for golden. My trick is to fry it on medium until the garlic looks like its got a tan then shut it off and let the heat of the oil take it to golden. The garlic is so tasty we fight over it!
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9 comments:

  1. Julia, our family loves this dish! The website looks great I can't wait to try and duplicate some of these delicious recipes. Keep them coming!

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  2. HI! I found you via Ginas skinny site and your recipes look amazing! So glad to see you are including a photo...very inspiring! Thank you so much for sharing your recipes. We love pasta around here and I look forward to adding these recipes to our arsenal!

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  3. Hi, also an avid fan of Gina's and came to check out your page. Italian is something everyone in my household likes so I'm sure I will be frequenting your blog. This recipe is on my menu plan for this week! YUM

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  4. Made this for dinner last night. Delicious and so easy. Perfect for me -- my guys however added some chicken breast. So quick and easy. Perfect for a busy night.

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  5. Love it! Delicious and easy enough to make while I was helping my kids with homework at the same time.

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  6. hi Amy, love your blog. I agree with you, its fast and easy enough even with homework involved! Glad you like it and thank you for visiting my site.

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  7. I just found your site through skinnytaste.com, and I love it! My family loves Italian food, and I'm trying to learn how to cook it, so I'm sure I'll be frequenting your blog often...thanks!

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  8. I recently found your site. I made this pasta and broccoli tonight. So simple yet so much better than what I was making, and my kids actually ate the broccoli!

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