Bow Tie Pasta With Broccoli and Broccoli Sauce

"I've gotten 8 year old boys to eat this and ask for seconds. They never knew they were eating broccoli and I didn't tell them. I adore this dish. Normally I cook with olive oil but the butter in this sauce should not be substituted. It will serve 4 as a side dish or 2 as a main course. The original recipe comes from Rozanne Gold, a favorite cookbook author."
 
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photo by Lori Mama photo by Lori Mama
photo by Lori Mama
photo by Kathy228 photo by Kathy228
Ready In:
25mins
Ingredients:
5
Serves:
2-4
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ingredients

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directions

  • Cut the broccoli buds into small florets, leaving as short a stem as possible; set aside; cut the remaining broccoli stems into 1/2" pieces; boil them, covered, in the 1 1/4 cups water, lightly salted, for 15 minutes or until very soft.
  • Meanwhile, boil the pasta in salted water until al dente; drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water; return the pasta to the pot and stir until all moisture is evaporated.
  • Place the reserved florets into a small pot and steam or boil 5 minutes, retaining the bright green color and a bit of crunch.
  • In a food processor, puree the cooked broccoli and its cooking water until very smooth, adding a bit of the reserved pasta water if needed to make a smooth sauce; add the butter and pulse until melted; add salt to taste.
  • Pour warm sauce over the pasta and stir gently to combine; plate and sprinkle with drained florets.

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Reviews

  1. Was really excited for this but it was bland, boiling the broccoli made my house smell foul and I tossed out the rest after eating a bowl. Added what appeared to be a handful of garlic salt but it couldn't save it. I'm happy that others have had luck with it though! Didn't want to give it 1 star but since I actually tossed leftovers I think it qualifies.. .
     
  2. Pureeing the broccoli was a bit too much. Too salty, too. Take the salt out of the equation. And less butter, too. It was...just not satisfying. The taste was off and nothing really came together with this. It lacks something to tie it all together, and more broccoli isn't the answer. Not a good one.
     
  3. I really wanted to like this recipe. I thought it would be a light, basic dish, but found it to be rather bland. Even after adding chopped red peppers, fresh black pepper, and fresh parm-reg, I found it wanting "something."
     
  4. this was ok for us. We all like broccoli but it needed more seasoning. Thank you for posting, I will make again, just adding a little.
     
  5. Somehow we did not really enjoy it that much... Sorry
     
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Tweaks

  1. I've always loved broccoli and this is a great new way to eat it! But I did make several changes to please my palate and dietary needs. I added edamame to the puree to add protein and substituted one of the tablespoons of butter with olive oil. For added flavor I included garlic and onions and added red pepper flakes and Parmesan to the puree. And I used milk instead of water. The texture was fantastic. I will be making again!
     
  2. Every once in a while I get bored with marinara sauce and make this instead. I agree with some of the other reviewers that it can be a bit mild, but if you're cooking for kids that's not always a bad thing, and you can always add to it. I have also made this with chicken broth instead of water, and that's quite nice. Thanks!
     
  3. Great way to use up the glut of broccoli I currently have in my garden, and the kids love it too! They do like broccoli anyway, but my daughter has a bad habit with pasta dishes of picking out the pasta and leaving everything else, even if "everything else" is something she usually likes, but with this she ate every single last bit! I've now cooked this several times, with variations. I tend to steam the broccoli instead of boiling it as it retains a bit more nutritional value, and also saves pans & energy as you can steam the florets over the pasta. Also, I've found this recipe to be very adaptable, and have successfully added green (bell) peppers (which I steamed with the stems), spinach (cooked then pureed with the stems), cheese (parmesan/cheddar), and pesto (really good if you're adding spinach as it perks up the flavour a bit), and pine nuts (toasted & sprinkled on top). I like to stick broadly to the green colour, as it is definately part of the attraction of this dish!
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I’m a former interior designer and landscape designer. At the moment I get to enjoy being at home and working only when I want to. I like rollerblading, hiking, backpacking and trips to the ocean. I grew up on a farm in the Midwest and moved to the Northwest when I was thirty, over twenty years ago. I’m afraid they’ll have to bury me here in WA. This is God’s country and I’m never leaving. I have a smallish collection of cookbooks, preferring to use the library and a copy machine. Among my favorites though, are: Recipes 1-2-3, by Rozanne Gold, a collection of recipes containing no more than 3 ingredients (excepting water, salt and pepper); A Treasury of Great Recipes, by Mary and Vincent Price, recipes collected from friends and chefs of great restaurants around the world; The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, by Nancy Harmon Jenkins, about a collection of cuisines I’m convinced are the healthiest in the world and The Low-Calorie Gourmet, by Pierre Franey. Currently my passions are our dogs, the garden, cooking, the natural world and of course, Dh. I can now add Zaar to that list of passions (translate: addiction). We have three dogs, two rescued and one adopted. They are Sugarpea, a Golden Retriever, Chickpea, a Llasa Apso and Sweetpea, a Shih Tzu; small, medium and large. We’re quite a sight out on the trail. One of the things I am most fond of about living here is the ability to vegetable garden year ‘round.
 
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