I swear to you, this dinner took me just fifteen minutes start-to-finish, and was delicious to boot.
This last week, while at the library, I was wandering up and down the cookbook aisle looking for something- anything- to serve as inspiration. I needed something new, and was debating between something that leaned more towards easy cooking, or something that leaned towards a challenge. I really didn’t care, I just wanted something fresh and something new. It was then that Jamie Oliver leaped off the shelf and into my arms, and let me tell you, I want this book for my own personal collection.
It’s really good. What I love about Jamie Oliver, and always have, is that he cooks real food. The recipes in many of his books are the same standard foods that he would make his family for dinner. They are not chock-full of restaurant quality dishes and plating, full of ingredients that are nowhere to be found. They are normal, and, if today’s recipe is any indication, delicious.
Broccoli and Pesto Tagliatelle was on the menu for last night, and when I thought about how I’d serve it up, I decided that I did want to “fancy it up” a bit by making my own homemade pasta. I’ve become quite fond of those homemade noodles, and thought they’d work perfectly in the dish. Using homemade, fresh pasta though, I had to change up how I put the dish together, but still, if you use store bought, boxed pasta, this will come together for you in just fifteen minutes. You can’t beat that even by ordering pizza! If you can’t find tagliatelle at your store, plain old linguine or fettuccine would work perfectly.
I have just a few notes about the recipe- which shows it is highly adaptable. It calls for 1/4 cup of green pesto AND a bunch of fresh basil. The fresh basil this time of year is just awful, so I didn’t buy any. I also didn’t have any homemade pesto in the freezer, so I went for one of those convenience products that I happen to love from time to time. Classico brand Pesto is a really good stand in for real, fresh pesto. It does have a different flavor from the fresh stuff, but it’s nice and garlicky, and full of basil flavor. Since I didn’t have any fresh basil though, I ended up using closer to 1/2 a cup of pesto. I also added 1/2 a cup of my pasta cooking water at the end to loosen it up.
This was delicious, and we all agreed it was a repeater. The pesto and broccoli combined perfectly to almost disguise some of the broccoli, and make it edible to little ones! The added potato was a really nice touch. I thought that was a strange addition, but it added both flavor and texture, so definitely leave that in.
Broccoli and Pesto Tagliatelle
from Jamie’s Food Revolution
serves 4-6
1 medium potato 1 head of broccoli a large bunch of fresh basil sea salt 1 pound dried tagliatelle 1/4 cup green pesto 3 ounces Parmesan cheese (or 1/3 cup grated)To prepare your pasta:
Wash and peel the potato and cut it into very thin shavings using a vegetable peeler. Slice the end off the broccoli stalk. Cut little florets off the head and set them to one side. Halve the thick stalk lengthwise and then slice thinly. Pick the basil leaves and discard the stalks. Grate the Parmesan if needed.
To Cook Your Pasta:
Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. Add the tagliatelle and broccoli stalks and cook according to pasta directions. 2 minutes before the pasta is cooked, add the broccoli florets and potato slices. Drain everything in a colander over a large bowl, reserving some of the cooking water, and return to the pan. Roughly chop your basil leaves and add to the pan with the pesto and half the Parmesan. Give it all a good stir and if the sauce is too thick for you, add a splash of the cooking water to thin it out a bit.
To Serve Your Pasta: Divide the pasta between your serving bowls. Sprinkle over the rest of the Parmesan and the remaining basil leaves. Serve with a lovely big bowl of salad.