Broccoli Tree Pasta is incredibly simple to make but really delicious. You can make it even more sustainable by using vegetables from your garden or buying locally grown produce. If you buy your pasta and pine nuts from your local refill shop you will also reduce your use of plastic packaging.
Also, try experimenting with substituting different vegetables for the broccoli – asparagus works particularly well, but do reduce the cooking time to 4 minutes.
Ingredients (Serves 4 -5)
- 400g fusilli or penne pasta
- 2 heads of broccoli divided into florets (or 2 bunches of asparagus, chopped)
- 8 sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, thinly sliced
- 50g pinenuts
- 2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder
- 3 T olive oil
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- plenty of freshly ground black pepper
Method
Firstly you need to start a large amount of water boiling in an extra large saucepan.
While this is coming to the boil prepare your vegetables. Then place the pine nuts, chopped garlic and chilli along with the seasonings and olive oil into a small frying pan and stir. Saute this on a low to medium heat until the garlic and pine nuts are golden brown. Then add the sliced sun dried tomato pieces and set aside.
By this stage your water should be boiling away happily, so now add your pasta to it and cook according to the instructions on the label. Then add the broccoli florets to the pasta when there is 6 minutes of cooking time left. (If you’re using asparagus, add when there is 4 minutes of cooking time left instead.)
Once cooked, drain the pasta and broccoli carefully, leaving about 1 cm of water at the bottom of the pot. Then add the garlic and pine nut mixture, stir well, and voila! your Broccoli Tree Pasta is ready.
This can be served as it is, or you might like to offer some cheese on the side for non-vegans. If so, please look for an organic option, which can be found in most of our local supermarkets.
Recipe adapted from Diane Seed’s The Top One Hundred Pasta Sauces by Nadia
