Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Recipe: Pasta with roasted broccoli and grape tomatoes


When the weather cools off, roasted veggies become a lot more attractive--if only because you won't mind heating up your kitchen with a 400-degree oven. I've even made this colorful, flavorful and crowd-pleasing dish as a side along with roasted chicken or turkey. Did I hear you think "Thanksgiving side....?"


Recipe: Roasted broccoli and grape tomatoes with rotini pasta

(Serves 3-4)

Feel free to add cooked shrimp or chicken to this recipe if you want extra protein. Or go the other direction--skip the cheese to make the dish vegan.


Ingredients:

5 cups broccoli florets and stems, cut into bite-size pieces

2 cups grape tomatoes

1 large shallot, minced

5 cloves garlic, chopped

2 T olive oil, plus more for greasing cookie sheet

2 T black olives, sliced

2 T capers, rinsed and drained

Juice of ½ lemon

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 cups uncooked rotini or other pasta

Grated or shredded parmesan cheese, to taste (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil rimmed baking sheet.

2. Toss first five ingredients (broccoli through olive oil) in a large mixing bowl until vegetables are evenly coated with oil. Add salt and pepper.

3. Spread mixture evenly onto prepared baking sheet and roast in preheated oven for 12 minutes, stirring once midway through cooking.

4. Meanwhile, cook pasta in salted, boiling water until al dente. Drain pasta, reserving one-half cup of cooking liquid.

5. Toss pasta with roasted vegetables and cooking liquid. Add capers, olives and lemon juice, mixing well.

6. Pass grated cheese at the table, if desired.

1 comment:

  1. Oh I love how this is so simple and sooo flavorful and healthy!

    ReplyDelete