I love pasta, and I love broccoli. Putting them together in this Pasta Con Broccoli recipe (pasta with broccoli) makes the perfect combination. This is a simple dish. The ingredients are broccoli, lemon, crushed red pepper, garlic, and parmesan. As I've discovered time and time again when it comes to pasta dishes, the simplest ones are the best. This recipe for Pasta with Broccoli is no exception. The pop of flavour from the lemon and red pepper brings the broccoli to life and makes this the kind of dish you'll return to over and over again.
Jump to RecipePasta with Broccoli Ingredients
Whenever you have a simple dish with few ingredients, the ingredients you use have to be of great quality. There is nothing for poor-quality ingredients to hide behind. So, when making pasta with broccoli (pasta con broccoli), use fresh broccoli, not frozen. Use fresh lemon and garlic. If yo have it, fresh chilli is the way to go as well. When I made this, I only had dry chilli. It turned out fine, but it would have been better with fresh chilli. And, of course, use good quality parmesan. Do not use Kraft shaker parm. It won't have the right taste, and it won't melt properly.
Preparing The Broccoli
When cutting broccoli or cauliflower, cut from the bottom. Only cut through the stem to prevent a big mess and keep your florets intact. Cut the broccoli into bite-sized pieces. In total, you want four cups of broccoli florets. The broccoli has to be blanched before being added to the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the broccoli and cook for four minutes. Scoop the broccoli out of the water and set it aside. Save the water and use it to cook your pasta for a little extra flavour.
Additional Pasta Con Broccoli Ingredients
Other than the broccoli and pasta, the ingredients for this recipe are crushed red pepper flakes, thinly sliced garlic, salt, parmesan cheese, butter, and olive oil. See the recipe for the measurements at the end of this post. Organize the ingredients before making the pasta because things will happen quickly once you get going.
Cooking The Pasta Con Broccoli
Bring the large pot of water back to a boil, add the pasta and set a timer according to the instructions on the package. Once the timer hits five minutes, put a large skillet on medium-high heat. Let it heat up, then add the olive oil and butter. Once the butter starts to foam, add the garlic. Cook for one minute. Add the crushed red pepper flakes and cook for another thirty seconds. Put the broccoli in the pan, and sauté for two minutes. Add a cup of the pasta water and the lemon zest to the pan, put it back on the heat, bring it to a boil and reduce it by half its volume. Drain the pasta and add it to the pan. Toss in the parmesan cheese and salt. Mix well. Take the pan off the heat again, add the lemon juice, toss, taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper as needed.
Conclusion
Pasta with Broccoli should be creamy, lemony, spicy, and flavourful. It is the perfect weeknight pasta dish because it comes together so quickly. You can also add some shredded chicken, sausage, cooked salmon, or tuna to the dish to bulk it up. This is definitely worth a try. Broccoli, done in a similar fashion to this pasta dish, makes a great side dish. You can find my recipe for Roasted Lemon and parmesan Broccoli here.
Ingredients
- 4 cups broccoli
- 2 tablespoon garlic, sliced
- ½ teaspoon chili flakes
- 1 lemon juice and zest
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup parmesan
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 410 g box rotini pasta
- 1 cup pasta water
Instructions
- Cut the broccoli into florets.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the broccoli and cook for four minutes. Remove the broccoli from the pot reserving the water.
- Add the pasta to the water and set a timer according to the package instructions.
- Once the pasta timer reaches five minutes, put a large skillet on medium-high heat.
- Add the olive oil and butter to the skillet. Once the butter starts to foam, add the garlic and cook for one minute. Add the red pepper flakes and cook for thirty seconds. Add the broccoli to the pan and sauté for two minutes.
- Add one cup of pasta water to the skillet along with the zest of one lemon. Bring the pasta water to a boil and cook until it has reduced by half its volume.
- Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet along with the parmesan cheese and salt. Toss the pasta to mix. Add the lemon juice, toss the pasta again and taste. Adjust the seasoning as needed with salt and pepper. Serve.
Janet Curry says
What would you serve with that to round out the meal?
Chef Ben Kelly says
Hi Janet, thank you for your question. It would make a great side dish with chicken, pork, or salmon.