This pesto pasta is super easy and oh so good! The hardest part is cutting up the vegetables. This is an old post that I’ve decided to re-post since it is so good and a spring/summer menu idea.
This all started when Mary Jo went to Costco and picked up an industrial sized box of grape tomatoes. I’ve already made two batches of honey balsamic Italian chicken meatball kabobs which uses some of the small tomatoes and still had a boatload of tomatoes left.
And, she picked up a big jar of pre-made pesto. Pesto presto!
Preparation Steps
Chop up a couple handfuls of the grape tomatoes, mince some garlic cloves and cut up about three cups of fresh broccoli florets. You can do this while you’re getting the water boiling for the 8 ounces of whole wheat rotini pasta.
Use your OXO kitchen scale (*ad), to measure out the pasta. Just set the bowl on the scale and turn it on. It will be automatically zeroed out so it’s easy to measure the weight of the pasta. For this dish I recommend using whole wheat pasta because it gives the flavor a subtle earthiness and compliments the broccoli so well. Besides, the whole wheat pasta is full of nutrients you don’t get with white pasta.
By the time your pasta has cooked, you should be just about ready to add it to the softened vegetables. Like I said. this is really fast and easy. Add about a cup of pasta water to your pan and mix in the pesto and you’re done.
Serve this pesto pasta with a little grated parmesan. And Mary Jo says, “It’s surprisingly delicious!”
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Tomato Broccoli Pesto Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 oz . whole wheat rotini pasta , cooked according to package instructions
- 1 cup reserved pasta water
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 3 large garlic cloves , minced
- 2 cups grape tomatoes , halved
- 3 cups fresh broccoli florets , bite size
- 6 tbsp pesto
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the pasta and drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water and set aside.
- In a large skillet, heat olive oil on medium and add garlic, cook for 30 seconds.
- Add the broccoli florets and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the tomatoes and cook for 2 more minutes.
- Add the cooked pasta, reserved pasta water, pesto and red pepper flakes and stir together.
- Serve with grated parmesan cheese.
Notes
- Use any quality basil pesto in a jar. Refrigerate the unused pesto.
Nutrition
I really do love this recipe. We had it last night made with 3 medium size vine-on tomatoes chopped up instead of the grape tomatoes and it was every bit as delicious. You just need to cut back on the pasta water a bit because regular tomatoes are juicier.
I really didn’t expect to like this dish, but I had seconds. It’s so healthy and delicious, also vegan. The Barilla whole grain rotini alone has 6 grams of fiber in a 2 ounce serving, and 8 grams of protein.