What a lovely, lovely family dinner we had! My mama was in town, and my sweetie’s family all came over to share a meal and an evening. I’m always a little bit anxious cooking for them because his mom is a master chef and cooks up a storm of masterpieces every time we go over (and assuredly many times in between!) and I, well, just never know exactly what I’m doing, and do not have a single real recipe under my belt. So.....let’s do this.
I wanted to make a pasta dish, ‘cause it’s generally an easy, safe way to feed a lot of people, but wanted something a little different from the standard marinara variety. I went for a veggie base, choosing broccoli as the main guest of honor, and the kind of whole wheat pasta shaped like bite sized tubes. I thought whole wheat would be more hearty and fitting with the broccoli.
I cooked the pasta fairly early, using a colander atop the pot to steam the bite sized broccoli pieces, and then put it into a large frying pan with some butter, on medium low heat. The idea is to get the flavoring to somewhat crust onto the noodles a bit, though I’m still working on honing that craft....before the meal was served I rescued a small share of crispy-enough-to-embarrass-me pasta shards. Having enough butter/oil in the pan is important, and a few good splashes of organic tamari (soy sauce) will help get some chewy flavor accents going.
I minced two cloves of garlic to toss it, as well as a good crackling of salt and sprinkling of nutritional yeast near the “end” (the end could have really been any time, but I was keeping it warm until serving time). If it still seemed too dry I’d add another dose of olive oil. No better way to live up to the reputation of whole wheat pasta than to make it too dry! :)
I put the broccoli in a pan on it’s own for a few minutes just to be sure it got coated in it’s own bit of oil flavoring before going into the soon-to-be overflowing pan. The last touch was a handful of fresh chopped green onions, served with a spoonful of parmesan.
The rest of dinner included backyard deviled eggs (which I let my mama take care of ;), cheesy bread made on a pizza crust with Irish cheddar cheese, flaxseed and green onion, and a green salad with candied pecans and Mama’s Miracle Dressing (which she now informs she makes with Bragg’s since I turned her on to that some time ago....I’m urging her to go back! ;)
It was so good and everyone ate very well with even a few leftovers (of the non-deviled egg, or cheesy bread, or salad variety that is :)
Whole Wheat Broccoli Pasta with Parmesan
Approximate price: $5
Somehow I doubt Andrew even looked at the food. I have a question. I tend not to use whole wheat pasta because whenever I cook it all it is is a chewy slightly bitter thing with a texture like what I'd imagine stale polenta has, that doesn't blend at all. Is this just something to get used to if I wish to use it or am I doing something wrong?
ReplyDeleteHa! Yes, Andrew had his own dinner, though graciously passed things to the rest of us :) As far as texture goes you're probably not doing anything wrong....perhaps an acquired taste! I think the best thing you can do is just to get as much good flavor stuck on them as possible....the pan trick seems to work well for me. Lightly frying them in whatever sauce you use will help it seep in and soften the stale polenta taste :)
ReplyDeleteThat seems to make sense. Making them soak up juices in a pan should make it more palatable. Thank you.
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