Pasta with broccoli sauce as the name suggests is a penne pasta recipe with lots of broccoli. So if you are a fan of broccoli or is someone who is looking to cook something different with broccoli, I highly recommend this recipe!
Honestly, even if you do not like broccoli, I still think you should try this dish. Since, the broccoli is blended together into the white pasta sauce, you will not get a strong broccoli taste, instead you get a creamy mild broccoli flavor that is complimented by all the Italian herbs that go into this dish!
If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen my recent green vegetable harvest and I got a fresh harvest of basil greens, thyme and oregano. So, I used all those in this recipe, and the house was infused with all these lovely fresh aromas. It was fantastic!!! 😀
This particular recipe is a mildly spiced one. So, if you need more heat, you can add more chili or red chili flakes to give some more kick! Also, this recipe is a wonderful option for low carb lunch or dinners. You can also add this to your weightloss menu. ! serving of this recipe has less carbs than 1 serving of rice that I eat. So, this is definitely a good alternative to rice!
I prepared a baked pasta version here because we love the baked cheese layer on top. Here, I also added a breadcrumb/almond layer on the topmost layer that I learnt from Jamie Oliver – Cauliflower with Broccoli sauce. I love this crunchy texture on top of pasta and I adore this particular cauliflower recipe from Jamie.
If you need more pasta recipes, you check them below
About this recipe
In this recipe, I used 2 sauces – red basil tomato and white/broccoli sauce.
For the red sauce, I simply blended together tomatoes with basil, walnuts and green chili. Then, I fried this mixture to get the sauce. This is a simpler version. I have another authentic version of red pasta sauce on my website here.
Pasta with broccoli sauce | Penne pasta recipe
Course: MainCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Medium2
servings20
minutes20
minutes45
minutesLots of broccoli infused into creamy white pasta sauce makes this recipe a keeper!
Ingredients
Penne pasta – 2 cups, boiled and drained
Broccoli florets and stems – 1 cup
Tomato – 2, medium
All purpose flour (maida) – 1 tbsp
Butter or oil – 2 tbsp
Milk – 1 cup
Italian herbs (thyme, basil, oregano) – 1 tsp each
Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
Walnuts – 4
Green chili – 1
Garlic, minced – 3 cloves
Olives, optional – 1 spoon
Cherry tomato, optional – 4, sliced
Almonds (badam) – 6
Bread slices – 2
Cheese, grated – 1/2 cup
Lemon zest, optional – 1 tsp
Salt – to taste
Directions
- Red pasta sauce
- Blend together the tomato, half of the Italian herbs, green chili, walnuts, needed salt.
- Heat oil in a pan and once hot, add the tomato mixture.
- Fry till it is no more raw, add 1/2 cup water and simmer for 2 minutes
- Remove separately and keep aside
- White broccoli sauce
- Heat a pan with oil and 1 tbsp butter.
- Add the garlic and fry till the raw smell disappears
- Add the all purpose flour and fry till it becomes a paste.
- Add milk little by little while whisking continuously. Let it come to a boil
- Add the broccoli, remaining herbs, salt and pepper powder.
- Cook till broccoli is completely cooked. Remove from heat and let it cool down a bit.
- Remove into a blender and blend to a smooth sauce. Keep aside
- Assembly
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Cook the pasta as per the packet instructions, drain and keep aside
- Blend together the bread, herbs, pepper, almonds into a coarse mixture
- In a baking bowl, add half the quantity of red tomato sauce and half white broccoli sauce
- On this add a layer of half the amount of pasta
- Add some olives, cherry tomato
- Add a layer of white broccoli sauce
- Add remaining red tomato sauce
- Add remaining pasta
- Top them with a layer of cheese
- Over this, add the bread mixture
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or till the top layer turns brown and crisp!
Notes
- This is a mildly spiced recipe, you can adjust the heat as per your liking.
