This Broccoli Pesto Pasta Recipe Costs Just $6.07 To Make
I recently created a cheap and cheerful recipe for you guys, and it went viral. It was this Vegemite pasta. It was super inexpensive, fast and easy.
As with anything viral online, I knew I shouldn’t have read the comments, but I read them. I did. And people mostly loved the easy recipe, but there were a small, vocal few who were aghast at the lack of vegetables in the dish. “WHERE IS THE NUTRITION?” they screamed through their screens.
Guys, I am bringing you the vegetables in this cheap and cheerful recipe. There’s green stuff. GREEN STUFF! Delicious green stuff, and the recipe costs just $6.07 to throw together {priced with products from my local Woolworths}.
Most pastas at Woolies are around $1, so using that as a starting point for a cheap meal is a good idea. Unlike the Vegemite Pasta this dish, this is packed with freshness and zest – from the basil and lemon. One of the smartest things you can do at home is make a little herb garden, so that you don’t have to buy herbs from the supermarket. Me, well… my neighbour is the master herb gardener and I just borrow from her. Smart, right?
Broccoli Pesto Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
300g dried penne pasta
1 handful fresh basil
1 tablespoon olive oil
40g Parmesan cheese, grated
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tablespoon dried chilli flakes
50g pine nuts
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
Method
- Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water as per the packet instructions. Pop the broccoli florets into the boiling pasta water for the last 3 minutes of cooking, to cook the broccoli. Drain.
- In a dry frying pan, toast the pine nuts until golden brown. Keep a few aside to top your cooked pasta dish with.
- While the pasta and broccoli is cooking, place the basil, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, lemon zest and juice, garlic, and chilli flakes into a food processor and blitz. Stir, and then blitz again. Add 1 tablespoon of the boiling water if you need to bring it together a little more.
- In a large bowl, combine the cooked pasta, broccoli and pesto. Serve! If you like things cheesy, top with extra Parmesan cheese, and a sprinkle of toasted pine nuts.
