broccoli pesto alfredo and friends

Very tasty!  And with a very empty green pot in the sink I’d say everyone agreed J  But I’m now going on two nights in a row of rich food and cheese…I don’t always do well with dairy so I will have to cool it tomorrow.

Lots of dishes this one!  But a good meal for a group and worth it.   I had 6 wonderful friends sitting and standing around my kitchen counter.  I had most of it made before anyone arrived, just boiled the noodles when they got here and that was all I had to do.  I really don’t focus well on cooking when friends are around. 

The idea with this meal is as it sounds; a broccoli pesto mixed with an alfredo sauce over pasta.

I started with the broccoli pesto: Pesto can be made out of many different ingredients.  The main idea is some kind of green (usually basil but arugula seems to be gaining popularity), some kind of nut (usually pine nuts but these can be very expensive so walnuts are a good option), olive oil, parmesan cheese, and garlic.  Salt and pepper to taste.  My dad always puts a little lemon zest in his.  All the pesto ingredients are food processed and that’s it.  Put it over some pasta and you have a wonderful meal!

For my green I mainly used steamed broccoli with some arugula and basil.  I had some leftover pine nuts in my fridge from when a friend lived with us, which I toasted a little in a sauté pan.  Not many, a small handful.   I love garlic so I put in 5 big cloves, but use however much or little you want.  I started food processing and adding olive oil as needed to make it move smoothly.  At the end I added some grated parmesan, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. 

The alfredo sauce:  Used my biggest pot because I knew everything would end up in here at the end.  Start with a rue (see resource pages—still to come).  Which is basically equal parts butter and flour cooked, then milk slowly added, lastly grated cheese.   I sautéed about half an onion with the butter then added the flour (maybe 2 Tbs of each?).   I slowly added some milk (I never have milk around so Tara let me use some of hers J), I would normally use my almond milk, I just didn’t realize they put flavor in it.  Use about as much milk as the amount of cream sauce you want.  After that had simmered a little, I added the grated cheeses (seriously, any cheese you want will work), and let it melt as I stirred.  Season as you wish.  Some more salt and pepper.  A lot of people like to add Dijon mustard or mustard powder to their rue sauces. I dumped the pesto into the cream sauce.  At this point turn off the heat and you can wait as long as necessary before boiling the noodles.

I usually use half whole wheat and half ‘regular’ noodles.  I used linguine tonight.  I added the noodles to the pesto cream sauce and viola!   Even Brent who hates cooked broccoli claims to have loved this.  Success! 

Lots of dishes in the sink…I will tackle them tomorrow…

Goodnight and good eating!