Pasta with Broccoli and Garlic Basil Sauce Recipe

Pasta with Broccoli and Basil Sauce

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Pasta with broccoli and garlicky fresh basil sauce is a recipe for a really tasty pasta dish. Italians are great inventors when it comes to pasta. The first course is always pasta, and cooking it well is a real art. Judging by your comments, the most popular versions are pasta with broccoli and pasta with basil.

In Southern Italy there are many versions of pasta: with broccoli, with anchovies, with red pepper, with capers, garlic and parsley. The important thing is not to overcook the broccoli. Pasta is a very tasty and, above all, affordable dish.

Pasta with broccoli is most often made with orecchiette, the ear-shaped pasta. Spaghetti and other shapes are rarely used. In principle, you can buy whatever you need here. But experience shows that we hardly notice the difference between the shapes.

Most often we use short penne, shaped like diagonally cut tubes, or, as an alternative, short fusilli, shaped like spirals. This pasta holds the basil sauce perfectly thanks to its textured surface, and goes well with large broccoli.

florets. Pasta in garlicky basil sauce with broccoli is a great choice for a Saturday breakfast when you have nowhere to be. Meat lovers, though, prefer pasta with ham.

Ingredients

2 servings

For the pasta

  • Penne or fusilli 250 g
  • Water for cooking the pasta 2.5 l
  • Salt for cooking the pasta 17.5 g (7 g per 1 l of water)

For the broccoli

  • Broccoli 1 head
  • Water for cooking the broccoli as needed
  • Salt to taste
  • Sugar 0.5 tsp (optional) (2 g)

For the sauce

  • Fresh basil 1 large bunch
  • Garlic 1-2 cloves
  • Olive oil 2-3 tbsp
  • Salt, ground black pepper to taste

For serving

  • Parmesan optional
  • Fresh basil a sprig for garnish

Step-by-step recipe

Broccoli

The dish has three components: boiled pasta, broccoli and garlicky basil sauce. The broccoli should be fresh, dark green and without any yellowing.

  1. Break the broccoli into florets: with a sharp knife, cut off the florets, leaving only short stubs of the thick, fleshy stem, no more than a couple of millimeters long.

    Broccoli, fresh basil and garlic.

  1. Boil the broccoli florets in lightly salted boiling water for 3 minutes. No longer, or the broccoli will overcook. Ideally the broccoli should stay slightly underdone, then the pasta will taste best. To keep the broccoli from losing its color while cooking, it is advised to add 0.5 tsp of sugar (2 g) to the water. Drain the broccoli in a colander.

    Boiling the broccoli florets in salted boiling water.

Basil sauce

If the basil has wilted a little, soak it in cold water for 1-2 hours beforehand. It will become firm again. The more sauce, the tastier the pasta, so don’t be stingy: take a large bunch of fresh basil.

  1. Make the garlicky basil sauce. Pick all the leaves off the basil and peel the garlic. Put the basil leaves and garlic into a blender or chopper, add a little salt and pepper. Blend everything as finely as possible. Make sure the salt has dissolved, add 2-3 tbsp of the best olive oil and mix thoroughly until smooth.

    Blending the basil leaves and garlic.

Pasta

  1. Cook the pasta while you make the sauce. In a large pot over high heat, bring 2.5 l of water with 17.5 g of salt (7 g of salt per 1 l of water) to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for the time given on the package; penne usually takes 12 minutes. The cooked pasta should have just a hint of firmness. Italians call this degree of doneness al dente (Italian: al dente, “to the tooth”, pronounced al DEN-teh).

    Adding the pasta to boiling water and cooking it for the time given on the package.

  2. Mix the pasta with the sauce and broccoli. Drain the pasta in a colander. Combine the cooked pasta with the garlicky basil sauce and toss thoroughly, so the sauce coats it evenly and the pasta is juicy.

    Mixing the cooked pasta with the garlicky basil sauce.

    Add the boiled broccoli florets to the pasta and toss once more.

    Adding the boiled broccoli florets to the pasta and tossing again.

Serving

  1. Divide the pasta among plates and serve right away, while it is hot. Pasta dishes are often sprinkled with grated Parmesan, but that is optional. Pasta with broccoli is a vegetable dish, and I don’t think it needs cheese.

    Pasta with broccoli and garlicky fresh basil sauce.

    But pasta garnished with a sprig of fresh basil will look great, almost festive.

    Pasta with broccoli

Calories and macros

705 kcal

Serving ≈ 370 g

  • Protein23 g14% of kcal
  • Fat20 g27% of kcal
  • Carbs100 g60% of kcal

100 g188 kcalProtein 6.1 gFat 5.4 gCarbs 26.8 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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