Like our recent recipe for Rich No-Cream Wild Mushroom Pasta Sauce, this pasta sauce is velvety-rich and creamy, plus nubby with flecks of feta cheese. And yet it has very little fat and dairy, aside from the feta, and nearly all of its body comes from steamed and blended broccoli. And lest you think that this is a dieter's compromise of a pasta sauce, we'll tell you the broccoli is sautéed with onion, garlic, and Italian parsley, and spun with lemon juice for a fantastically tangy and aromatic pasta dish. We love it!
Recipe: Velvety Broccoli and Feta Pasta
This is yet one more recipe inspired by Laurie Colwin. She mentions a pasta sauce made up from steamed broccoli in one of her essays in Home Cooking. We played around with the proportions and added a few things, including the feta. It was right around this same time last year that we rediscovered just how good broccoli and feta are together - remember our Broccoli and Feta Pasta Salad?
This is also a quick and cheap meal - just a little broccoli, some herbs, pasta, and pantry staples. Try this on a spring evening for a quick one-dish supper. The bright green is fresh and unexpected, and we found the leftovers to be delicious as well.
Velvety Broccoli and Feta Pasta
serves 2-4
1 pound broccoli
2 tablespoons water
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
1/2 small onion or two shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup chopped flat parsley
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup feta cheese (low-fat if you want to be good) - divided
1/4 cup water
Cut the broccoli into small florets and steam on the stove or in the microwave with the 2 tablespoons of water. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large sauté pan. Cook the onion and garlic until it just begins to soften then add the broccoli. Cook for several minutes or until the onion turns translucent. Add the parsley and cook until it's well wilted. Pour in the lemon juice and simmer for about two minutes.
Transfer to a blender and add 1/4 cup of the feta cheese and the 1/4 cup water. Puree until smooth, adding a drizzle of olive oil and a little more water if it sticks and turns to a lump. Puree until as smooth or chunky as you prefer.
Taste and add any necessary additional salt and pepper. Serve with a good ridged pasta like the rotini above.
More quick and easy spring pasta!
• Roasted Garlic, Olive and Tomato Pasta Salad
• Rich No-Cream Wild Mushroom Pasta Sauce
• Lemon Pepper Pasta with Capers
• Ridiculously Quick Pasta al Pomodoro
(Image: Faith Hopler)
Tags
Main Dish, Sauce, Healthy, Vegetarian, Pasta, Quick, Side Dish, Italian, One-dish Meal, Easy, broccoliRelated Links
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Wow- this looks great! Just how 'broccoli' does it taste? I love it but my boyfriend is NOT a fan. I'd love for something like this to change his mind.
view pdx-R's profile
This looks yummy! I made a broccoli "pesto" one time that was similar and it was great, not too broccoli-y.
view rachel's profile
hooray! thanks for posting recipes that are easy on the lactose-intolerant.
view applebranch's profile
Oh Faith, I just love the sound of this dish. Thank you for the recipe! It looks wonderful and (miracle of miracles) I actually have everything on hand to make it. Oh wait. No rotini. Okay, no problem, no problem - I'll improvise. Actually, knowing me I'll end up eating the sauce out of the pan with a spoon. Oooh, or slathered on homemade sourdough bread. ; )
view Farmgirl Susan's profile
Just made it tonight. It was delicious! The lemon and feta cheese makes it tangy and just enough of the broccoli flavor comes through (though not too strong that broccoli haters will turn up their noses).
view carrieg's profile
Oh yum that makes me so hungry! I will eat anything green on fusilli.
view cmcinnyc's profile
This is so what I'm making for dinner tonight!
view Erin's profile
Made this for dinner last night -- had been saving some broccoli stalks in the freezer for something like this.
Seems to make more than four servings. Quite tasty!
view bennyrogers's profile
I made it last night, and it was great, but the feedback was that there was too much lemon juice -- if I make it again, I would start with the juice of only half a lemon, and then adjust when the dish is assembled.
view mschatelaine's profile
I made this tonight....didn't have the parsley, but still it was so so yummy. Can't wait for lunch tomorrow for leftovers!!
view Mooncalf's profile
i made this last night too. i didn't have any parsley but it tasted pretty good!
view terka27's profile
I made this tonight, it was fantastic! I didn't have the parsley either, so it was a little pale in color, but tasty. Bright and lemony, great flavors. I used whole wheat rotini. Next time, I'll try it with extra broccoli and mix the florets into the sauce for extra veggies. But I'll DEFINITELY make this again!
view Capricorn Pig's profile
Made this tonight. I subbed fresh tarragon, since i don't like parsley. The flavor was great, but texture wasn't exactly "velvety." it was a little... grainy? or broccoli-particle-ish. i used an immersion blender and thought it would be smoother. i added more feta. added more olive oil. still not velvety. that's my only disappointment. but we liked it. and my 11-month-old will like the sauce tomorrow straight up, as a puree.
view Joy Katz's profile
I made this the other night, lil bit too much lemon but otherwise perfect! Yam. Photo of my dish here: http://hannn.vuodatus.net/blog/1272597
Sorry it's in finnish :D
view hanna sopasta's profile
Excellent recipe. My husband likes the taste of broccoli but hates the texture (weird, I know) so this recipe is perfect for us to share. It's so easy and simple to whip up (although I usually skip the onions and parsley) and even reheats well. I make this at least once a week!
view stevie's profile
I used the leftovers as a pizza topping, made a crust with the NYT no knead recipe, topped with this sauce and a bit more feta...gobbled it up before I could take a pic...
view KrIbbit's profile
To enhance the creaminess without all the strong feta taste I added in two tablespoons of greek yogurt (Total, 5%). Turned out smooth and delish and I mixed it directly with the pasta to make a "broccoli pesto." Turned out great!
view poodle6005's profile
Made it tonight! Was great flavor, but not as smooth/creamy as I hoped it would be. Still, with whole wheat rotini and some chicken as protein, it was a fabulous meal.
view nonae5's profile
This looks amazing! It looks just like a pesto but creamy broccoli. I bet the feta adds the perfect saltiness....hmmmm.
view Courtney Oquist's profile
just tried this for the first time, but added scallops and clam juice (instead of water). amazing -- the boyfriend loves it and usually he only loves red meat!
view monstertruck's profile
I couldn't wait to try this recipe, but found it too be a little on the thick side. I tried to smooth it out but still felt it was a tad too thick. I will say that I did like the taste and decided to use the leftovers to fill some large pasta shells - it was perfect.
view Sweet Tart's profile
We tried this dish last night, and loved it! We will definitely be making this again! We didn't add quite the whole amount of parsley, but the overall flavor was great- not too much like broccoli, a bit lemon-y, and a great tang from the feta.
Two thumbs up!
Now to decide what to do with the leftovers- I like Sweet Tart's idea of filling pasta shells...yum.
view OM83's profile
I found I needed to add a fair amount of liquid when blending - maybe 1/2 of a cup - to get it to a consistency I liked. But it was very good.
Someone asked how strong the broccoli flavor was - after dinner, my fiance asked me where the broccoli I'd been prepping had gone. :) I could clearly taste it in the dish, but apparently it wasn't too strong!
view tatgeer's profile
I saw this recipe yesterday and was glad to have all of the ingredients at home! Very quick and easy. I used two broccoli crowns and a zucchini. Delicious!
view haada001's profile